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REMINISCENCES  ^^^'^^^^' 

OF   BAPTIST   CHURCHES   t;^''^'  ^^  ^^  ■ 
AND    BAPTIST    LEADERS      Xilui,iu«LSt^ 
IN  NEW  YORK  CITY  AND 
VICINITY,  FROM  1835-1898 


BY 

GEORGE  H.  HANSELL 


mttb  an  UnttoOuctlon 

BY 

W.  H.  P.  FAUNCE,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA 

American  ^Baptist  publication  Socictis 

1899 


n 


Copyright  iSgg  by 
George  H.  Hansell 


ftom  tbc  press  of  tbe 
Bmerfcan  Saptist  publication  Society 


INTRODUCTION 


The  following  reminiscences  of  Baptist  history 
in  the  metropolis  are  so  lucidly  written  that  the  only 
introduction  needed  is  a  word  of  friendly  apprecia- 
tion. The  writer  makes  no  claim  to  original  and 
scientific  research,  but  he  may  justly  claim  intimate 
association  with  most  of  our  church  leaders  for  the 
past  sixty  years.  And  while  he  would  be  the  last 
to  say  quorum  pars  magna  fui,  I  may  be  allowed  to 
say  for  him  that  no  man  among  us  has  been  more 
alert  to  the  conditions  of  church  life  in  this  city,  or 
has  rendered  more  devoted  service,  than  himself. 

America  is  usually  impatient  of  archives  and 
documents.  Its  face  is  toward  the  future  and  the 
sunrise.  Consequently  we  are  sadly  lacking  in  the 
historic  sense,  and  in  breadth  of  view.  "  In  to-day 
already  walks  to-morrow,"  said  Coleridge.  True  ; 
but  in  yesterday  once  walked  to-day ;  and  no  man 
is  competent  to  guide  the  church  to-day  unless  he 
knows  the  church  of  yesterday.  The  causes  of  our 
present  strength,  the  reasons  for  present  weakness, 
all  lie  deep  rooted  in  the  years  that  are  gone. 

The  Baptist  churches  of  this  city  have  had  some 
notable  leaders,  both  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  pew ; 
men  of  marked   and  pow^erful  personality,  who  im- 


IV  INTRODUCTION 

pressed  themselves  deeply  on  their  generation.  To 
revere  the  memory  of  past  leaders  is  the  way  to 
create  leaders  in  the  present.     When  Israel  sang  : 

We  have  heard  with  our  ears,  0  God, 
Our  fathers  have  told  us, 
What  work  thou  didst  in  their  days, 
In  the  days  of  old, 

then  Israel  was  ready  for  any  battle  with  any  foe. 
Amid  the  changed  conditions  of  modern  city  life, 
new  methods  are  needed ;  but  the  old  heroism  and 
simple  faith  and  unswerving  devotion  are  forever 
indispensable  to  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Mr.  HanselPs  friends  have  urged  upon  him  the 
duty  of  writing  down  a  narrative  of  men  and  move- 
ments. It  has  been  a  labor  of  love  on  his  part, 
and  his  only  object  is  to  quicken  memory  and  kindle 
hope  and  stir  us  all  to  new  ambition.  And  though 
he  well  knows  that  he  is  working  in  the  light  of  the 
sunset,  he  works  with  serene  and  steadfast  faith  in 
God^s  great  to-morrow.  It  is  an  inspiration  to  us 
all  to  see  those  who  have  been  long  in  the  service 
growing  daily  younger  in  hope  and  courage  and  gen- 
ial optimism,  and  recalling  the  past  only  for  the 
sake  of  instructing  and  molding  the  future,  and 
cheering  the  young  men  for  their  new  task.  So  in 
the  old  Greek  races,  one  runner  handed  on  the  torch 
to  another.  So  Jacob  cried  :  "  The  Angel  which 
redeemed  me  from  all  evil  bless  the  lads  !  ^' 

New  York,  June,  1899.  W.  H.  P.  FauNCE. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction iii 

I.  Introductory     1 

II.  The  Baptist  Churches  of  the  City  ....  7 

III.  The  Mulberry  Street  Church  and  Rev. 

Archibald  Maclay 11 

IV.  The  Oliver  Street  Church  and  Spencer  H. 

Cone 19 

V.  A  Digression 24 

VI.  Oliver  Street  Church  (Continued),  1841- 

1890 27 

VII.  North  Beriah  and  South  Baptist  Churches  35 

VIII.  Stanton  Street  Baptist  Church 39 

IX.  The  North  Baptist  Church 49 

X.  The  Amity  Baptist  Church 53 

XI.  Sixteenth  Baptist  Church 59 

XII.  The  Tabernacle  Church 62 

XIII.  The  Norfolk  Street  Church  (now  Fifth 

Avenue) 72 

XIV.  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage 76 

V 


Vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.  The  Baptist  Lay-Preaching  Association    82 

XVI.  The  Norfolk  Street  Church  (Continued)  86 

XVII.  The  Norfolk  Street  Church  (Continued)  92 

XVIII.  The  Fifth  Avenue  Church 96 

XIX.  The  Fifth  Avenue  Church  (Continued)  .  103 

XX.  Interdenominational  Services 135 

XXI.  The  Fifth  Avenue  Church  (Continued)  .  143 

XXII.  The  Fifth  Avenue  Church  (Continued)   .  147 

XXIII.  The  First  Church  from  1841  to  1897,  and 

Other  Churches 150 

XXIV.  Churches  Outside  the  City  Limits    ...  180 
XXV.  Baptist  Leaders  or  Leading  Baptists   .    .  185 

XXVI.  A  Closing  Word 196 

Appendix 202 

Index 205 


LIST  OF  PORTRAITS 


PAGE 

Deacon  George  H.  Hansell Frontispiece 

Rev.  Archibald  Maclay,  D.  D 11 

Rev.  Spencer  H.  Cone,  D.  D 19 

Rev.  George  Benedict 42 

Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,  D.  D 76 

Deacon  Charles  T.  Goodwin 89 

Hon.  George  H.  Andrews 101 

Jabez  A.  Bostwich 136 

Deacon  Benjamin  F.  Judson 164 

Deacon  William  Colgate 185 


REMINISCENCES  OF  BAPTIST  CHURCHES 

AND 

LEADERS  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 


IN  carrying  out  my  purpose  to  write  these  Remi- 
niscences, I  make  no  apology  for  the  frequent 
use  of  the  personal  pronoun,  wherever  it  may  seem 
necessary  or  convenient.  Furthermore,  I  beg  that 
no  one  will  think  that  I  aspire  to  literary  distinc- 
tion. What  I  shall  attempt  will  be  to  narrate  what 
has  come  under  my  own  observation  concerning 
Baptist  churches  and  Baptist  leaders  in  New  York, 
since  I  have  known  the  city. 

It  will  be  readily  seen,  however,  that  in  order  to 
make  my  narrative  intelligible,  I  have  had  to  gather 
from  others  some  account  of  persons  and  events  liv- 
ing or  happening  prior  to  my  personal  knowledge  of 
the  city.  Beyond  this,  my  only  aim  will  be  to  re- 
late the  same  in  simple  phrase,  and  so  far  as  a  tol- 
erably retentive  memory  will  permit,  with  the  most 
perfect  accuracy  and  impartiality. 

1 


2  REMINISCENCES 

Perhaps  my  task  will  be  easier,  and  my  narrative 
better  understood,  if  (without  intending  to  be  ego- 
tistic) I  introduce  a  little  of  my  personal  history. 

I  was  born  in  England  in  the  year  1814,  in  a 
little  village  in  the  county  of  Essex,  called  Hatfield- 
Peverel.  This  village  is  situated  on  the  great  east- 
ern thoroughfare  (called  locally,  the  London  Road) 
between  London  and  Harwich, — the  former,  as 
everybody  knows,  the  metropolis  of  Great  Britain, 
and  the  latter  her  principal  eastern  seaport, — and 
distant  from  each  just  thirty-six  miles. 

In  this  village  I  lived  until  I  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  without  going  more  than  twenty-one 
miles  from  home,  and  without  seeing  a  town  of  more 
than  five  thousand  inhabitants,  until  three  days  be- 
fore I  sailed  from  St.  Catharine's  Dock,  London,  on 
my  way  to  America.  To  me,  therefore,  New  York, 
in  which  I  landed,  was  a  big  city,  although  its  geo- 
graphical limits  did  not  extend  much  beyond  where 
Cooper  Union  now  stands,  and  its  population  was 
three  hundred  thousand.  London  at  that  time  had 
one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  I  ar- 
rived in  this  city  August  4,  1835,  landing  at  Castle 
Garden,  after  a  voyage  of  forty-eight  days,  on  the 
old  packet  ship  Samson,  Captain  Daniel  Chadwick, 
from  London.  I  stopped  for  a  few  days  after  my 
arrival  at  a  hotel  in  Frankfort  Street  near  Chatham. 
Having  adjusted  my  baggage  and  eaten  my  dinner, 
I  strolled  out  for  a  walk,  and  providentially  met  my 
first  acquaintance  in  New  York.     I  had  dropped 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

into  a  boot  and  shoe  store  in  William  Street  to  ask 
a  question,  and  noticed,  lying  on  a  settee,  a  news- 
paper called  ^'  The  Gospel  Witness."  Taking  it  up 
I  found  it  to  be  a  Baptist  journal.  As  my  parents 
were  both  Baptists,  I  entered  into  conversation  with 
the  proprietor  of  the  store,  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Combs, 
and  learned  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  First  Bap- 
tist Church  of  New  York.  Thus  commenced  my 
first  friendship  in  New  York.  Deacon  Combs  in- 
vited me  to  call  again,  and  we  saw  each  other  fre- 
quently. His  kindly  manners  and  fatherly  counsel 
so  endeared  him  to  me  that  we  became  fast  friends, 
and  continued  to  be  such  until  the  day  of  his  de- 
parture to  the  "better  country."  Perhaps  there  are 
some  yet  living  who  remember  the  genial  smile  with 
which  the  good  deacon  welcomed  his  friendly  callers, 
and  invited  them  to  "  take  a  seat  and  sit  down." 

The  following  Sunday  found  me  in  the  Oliver 
Street  Baptist  meeting-house  listening  with  delight 
to  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Daniel  Dodge,  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  who  was  for  that  day  supplying  the  pulpit, 
while  the  pastor  of  the  church,  Rev.  Spencer  H. 
Cone,  was  enjoying  a  brief  vacation  at  his  favorite 
summer  resort,  Schooley's  Mountain,  N.  J.  Here 
he  was  buried  in  1855,  and  here  his  honored  dust 
sleeps  beside  that  of  his  beloved  wife,  waiting  the 
resurrection  of  the  just. 

I  cannot  say  that  my  interest  in  the  Oliver  Street 
Church  and  its  pastor  commenced  with  the  day  on 
which  I  first  entered  its  meeting-house,  for  I  had 


4  EEMINISCENCES 

heard  of  both  while  at  home  from  a  friend  of  my 
grandfather,  who  had  formerly  spent  a  few^  years  in 
this  city,  during  which  he  sat  under  Doctor  Cone's 
ministry.  It  was  this  prior  knowledge  that  induced 
me  (the  day  after  my  arrival)  to  visit  Oliver  Street 
to  get  a  view  of  the  exterior  of  the  house  of  worship. 
It  was  the  structure  that  preceded  the  building  now 
occupying  the  same  site,  and,  according  to  a  tablet 
on  its  front,  was  erected  in  1819.  The  pulpit,  con- 
forming to  the  prevailing  custom  of  that  day,  was 
at  the  entrance,  so  that  the  preacher  stood  with  his 
back  to  the  street.  I  had  seen  but  one  Baptist 
meeting-house  in  England,  and  that  would  hold  less 
than  three  hundred  persons  when  crow^ded  to  its  ut- 
most capacity.  I  thought,  consequently,  that  the 
Oliver  Street  house  was  really  an  imposing  edifice. 
Baptists,  as  I  had  known  them,  usually  worshiped 
in  barns  or  small  schoolrooms,  or,  these  not  being 
attainable,  in  private  houses  At  one  time  while  I 
was  a  boy  I  attended  public  worship  regularly  in  a 
long,  low,  narrow  building  which  had  formerly  been 
a  rabbit-warren,  and  was  still  in  contempt  so  called. 
My  father  and  mother  were  both  immersed  when  I 
was  about  fifteen  years  old,  going  to  a  town  seven- 
teen miles  away  to  have  the  ordinance  administered. 
But  although  until  that  time  unbaptized  I  have 
reason  to  thank  God  that  they  were  both  Christians 
before  I  was  born.  A  godly  parentage  is  the  best 
of  all  earthly  heritages. 

When  I  came  to  this  city  I  had  made  no  public 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

confession  of  Christ,  and  entertained  no  assurance 
that  I  had  been  converted ;  but  I  had  read  the  New 
Testament  from  early  childhood.  When  I  was  but 
four  years  old  and  did  not  '^  even  know  my  letters," 
my  grandfather  gave  me  my  first  "  reading  lesson," 
from  Gen.  1:1.  At  the  end  of  a  month's  hard 
study  I  could  read  a  chapter  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  never  doubted  that  immersion  is  the  only  bap- 
tism. Yet  I  had  never  seen  it  administered  until 
one  Lord's  Day  shortly  after  my  arrival  in  the  city, 
when  I  saw  Mr.  Cone  lead  several  converts,  both 
men  and  women,  down  into  the  pool  in  front  of  the 
pulpit,  where  he  immersed  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Trinity.  I  then  received  an  impression  con- 
cerning the  solemnity  and  beauty  of  the  ordinance 
such  as  I  can  never  forget. 

About  a  year  thereafter  I  was  led  down  into  the 
same  baptistery  by  another  administrator,  Rev.  John 
Dowling,  and  was  baptized  into  the  fellowship  of 
the  West  Baptist  Church,  then  worshiping  in  what 
was  known  as  Doctor  Mitchell's  old  (Universalist) 
church,  standing  on  the  corner  of  Duane  Street  and 
City  Hall  Place.  The  site  now  belongs  to  Roman 
Catholics,  who  took  down  the  old  building  and 
erected  a  new  one,  which  is  still  standing. 

Doctor  Mitchell,  as  I  have  been  told,  was  not  a 
Unitarian,  but  believed  and  taught  that  the  Christ 
had  suffered  and  made  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world  and  every  one  that  is  born  into  it, 
and  by  virtue  of  that  sacrificial  atonement  every  in- 


6  REMINISCENCES 

dividual  would  be  saved.  The  reasoning  seems 
logical,  but  I  do  not  think  the  conclusion  is  scrip- 
tural. 

From  this  time  forward  my  interest  in  Baptists 
and  Baptist  churches,  the  purity  and  constancy  of 
their  faith,  the  rectitude  of  their  lives,  the  inde- 
pendence of  their  church  government,  acknowledging 
no  head  but  Christ  their  Redeemer  and  Lord,  the 
regularity  of  their  order,  and  the  inviolability  of 
their  discipline,  has  ever  been  deep,  constant,  and 
abiding. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  BAPTIST  CHURCHES  OF  THE  CITY 


THE  following  list  comprises  all  the  Baptist 
churches  existing  in  New  York  City  in  1835, 
with  the  dates  of  their  organization  (so  far  as  ascer- 
tained), their  location,  and  the  pastors  then  occupy- 
ing their  pulpits  : 


Churches. 


Organ- 
ized. 


First,  1762, 

Oliver  Street,        1791, 
Abyssinian,  1808, 

North  Beriah,       1813, 
South,  1822, 

Stanton  Street,      1823, 
North,  1827, 

Amity  Street,        1832, 
Zion,  1832, 

Sixteenth,  1833, 

Broome  Street,     1834, 
Mulberry  Street, 
East, 

Second  (so  claimed) 
Second  (so  claimed) 


Location. 
Gold  St., 
Oliver  St., 
Anthony  St., 
Macdougal  St., 
Nassau  St., 
Stanton  St., 
Bedford  St., 
Amity  St., 
Pearl  St., 
Sixteenth  St., 
Broome  St., 
Mulberry  St., 
Grand  St., 
Chrystie  St., 
Bowery, 


Pastors. 
Wm.  Parkinson. 
Spencer  H.  Cone. 
Wm.  Spelman. 
Duncan  Dunbar. 
Chas.  G.  Somers. 
George  Benedict. 
Jacob  H.  Brouner. 
Wm.  R.  Williams. 
John  T.  Raymond. 
Jas.  L.  Hodge. 

Archibald  Maclay. 
John  Middleton. 
Johnson  Chase. 
Wm.  G.  Miller.  1 


Mr.  Chase  did  not  remain  in  Chrystie  Street  long, 

^  For  such  information  as  I  have  been  able  to  get  regard- 
ing the  last  two  claims  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  Mr.  G. 
M.  Vanderlip  (see  later  pages).  I  do  not  know  on  what 
those  claims  rest. 

7 


8  REMINISCENCES 

but  preached  in  a  small  church  in  Mott  Street  near 
Broome. 

From  my  friend,  Mr.  Yanderlip,  I  have  learned 
the  following:  "In  the  year  1770  a  division  arose 
in  the  First  Baptist  Church  on  the  question  of  lin- 
ing the  hymns  before  singing,  as  had  been  the  cus- 
tom, or  using  hymn  books.  By  a  vote  of  the  church 
the  latter  course  was  adopted,  and  thereupon  four- 
teen persons  asked  for  letters  of  dismission,  and  or- 
ganized the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  New  York 
City.  In  1789  another  difficulty  arose  in  the  First 
Church,  resulting  in  the  exclusion  of  thirteen  per- 
sons, for  opposition  to  the  pastor,  for  what  they 
called  his  ^  new  divinity.' 

"These  persons  were  at  once  received  into  the 
Second  Church,  and  trouble  between  the  two  churches 
very  naturally  followed.  But  in  January,  1890, 
leave  was  given  by  the  First  Church  to  all  who  de- 
sired (including  the  excluded  members)  to  take  let- 
ters. Eighteen  persons  availed  themselves  of  this 
privilege,  and  these  also  joined  the  Second  Church. 
Among  the  constituent  members  of  the  latter,  was 
one  Francis  A^an  Dyke,  who  manifested  a  disposi- 
tion to  rule  the  whole  church.  The  new  members 
resisting  this.  Van  Dyke,  who  owned  the  house  in 
which  their  meetings  were  held,  closed  the  door 
upon  them.  This  occurred  late  in  1789  or  at  the 
beginning  of  1790.  From  1791  the  Oliver  Street 
Church  has  full  minutes  of  its  proceedings,  bat  pre- 
viously the  minutes  were  kept  by  Mr.  Van  Dyke, 


THE    BAPTIST   CHURCHES   OF   THE    CITY  y 

and  he  retained  them.  The  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers protested  against  his  action,  and  strove  to  con- 
vince him  and  his  adherents  of  their  wrong-doing, 
and  to  effect  reconciliation,  but  in  vain.  Two  par- 
ties now  claimed  to  be  the  Second  Church.  One 
was  represented  by  Jeremiah  Dodge,  Rev.  John 
Dodge  (who  joined  the  church  in  1770),  Thomas 
Garniss,  Samuel  Jones,  and  Ezekiel  Archer ;  the 
other  by  Mr.  Van  Dyke  and  his  adherents.  After 
numerous  hearings  by  conventions,  councils,  and  in- 
vestigating committees,  it  was  decided  that  Thomas 
Garniss  and  his  associates  were  the  Second  Baptist 
Church.  Van  Dyke  appealed,  and  a  mutual  council 
was  called,  but  Van  Dyke  refused  to  appear  before 
it.  Finally,  in  1802,  both  churches  abandoned  the 
title  of  Second  Baptist  Church.  The  body  led  by 
Van  Dyke  took  the  name  of  Bethel  Baptist  Church, 
which  is  now  extinct.  The  other  party  took  the 
name  of  the  Fayette  Street  Baptist  Church,  which, 
when  the  name  of  the  street  was  changed,  became 
the  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church." 

In  the  list  of  Baptist  churches  given  in  this  chap- 
ter there  are  but  fifteen,  but  as  a  sixteenth  neces- 
sarily implies  fifteen  before  it,  there  must  have 
been,  either  then  or  previously,  another.  Where 
was  it  ?  I  have  heard  that  there  was  once  a  small 
body  which  for  some  cause  separated  from  the  First 
Church  and  assumed  the  name  of  the  Zoar  Baptist 
Church,  but  of  its  history  I  can  find  no  trace.  It 
must,  I  think,  have  been  a  short  one.     However 


10  REMINISCENCES 

this  may  have  been,  it  seems  necessary  to  assume 
the  existence  of  a  Baptist  congregation  somewhere 
not  far  distant,  in  order  to  account  for  the  building 
of  so  large  a  church  as  that  in  Mulberry  Street.  It 
was  a  large  structure,  with  a  gallery  all  around.  It 
would  seat  fifteen  hundred  people,  and  was  the 
largest  Baptist  house  of  worship  ever  erected  in  this 
city,  if  that  in  Sixteenth  Street  is  not  an  exception, 
until  the  Calvary  Church  built  their  new  house  in 
Fifty-seventh  Street.  Surely  so  large  a  house  would 
not  have  been  built  for  Baptists  if  there  had  not 
been  a  congregation  of  Baptists,  or  persons  holding 
Baptist  views,  ready  to  enter  it ;  yet  it  is  well  known 
that  Mulberry  Street  Church  was  never  other  than 
a  Baptist  church. 


ARCHIBALD  MACLAY,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  MULBERRY  STREET  CHURCH  AND  REV.  ARCHI- 
BALD  MACLAY 

THE  following  interesting  facts  relating  to  Rev. 
Archibald  Maclay,  first  pastor  of  the  Mulberry 
Street  Church,  are  gathered  from  the  "  Maclay  Me- 
morial/' a  copy  of  which  was  presented  to  the  writer 
by  the  late  Robert  Maclay  of  this  city : 

"  Rev.  Archibald  Maclay,  D.  D.,  was  born  May  14, 
1776,  at  Green  End,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village 
of  Killearn,  Stirlingshire,  Scotland,  in  a  rural  cot- 
tage which  is  said  to  have  been  in  the  family  for 
many  generations.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a 
man  of  high  repute  and  an  elder  in  a  Presbyterian 
church.  He  lived  to  a  great  age.  When  on  his 
deathbed  he  looked  at  his  children  with  a  complacent 
smile,  and  said :  '  One  generation  goeth  and  another 
cometh.     Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  " 

Dr.  Maclay's  father  was  born  in  1749,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  thirty-six  years,  when  his  son  (who 
bore  his  name),  was  nine  years  old.  His  mother 
instructed  her  son  carefully  in  the  religion  of  the 
Bible.  He  read  the  Book  of  books  over  and  over, 
and  practised  daily  prayer.  Subsequent  experience 
taught  him,  however,  that  he  had  only  the  religion 

11 


12  REMINISCENCES 

of  a  young  Pharisee,  until  he  heard  a  sermon  by- 
Rev.  Mr.  Wallis,  from  Eph.  1  :  7.  From  this  he 
dates  his  conversion. 

"In  the  first  transports  of  my  love  and  gratitude,"  he 
says,  * '  I  could  have  embraced  the  preacher  through 
whom  was  made  known  to  me  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
God  unto  salvation.  But  I  was  a  diffident  and  friendless 
boy,  and  did  not  dare  speak  to  him.  I  had  never  seen 
him  before,  and  have  never  seen  him  since,  but  in  my 
old  age  I  met  his  son,  Rev.  Dr.  Wallis,  professor  of  the- 
ology in  Kings  College,  Toronto,  and  acknowledged  to 
him  the  debt  I  owed  to  his  father." 

When  the  boy  had  experienced  this  change,  his 
mother  made  him  leader  in  their  family  worship. 
He  joined  the  Church  of  the  Seceders  to  which  his 
mother  belonged,  and  began  to  take  part  in  their 
public  meetings  for  prayer  and  conference. 

Up  to  this  time  his  opportunities  for  education 
had  been  very  limited.  Subsequently  (the  family 
having  removed  to  Glasgow)  he  was  two  years  under 
the  tuition  of  Rev.  Greville  Ewing,  of  that  city. 
He  finished  his  education  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, where  the  celebrated  Dugald  Stewart  was  one 
of  the  professors,  and  was  chiefly  indebted  for  the 
means  to  do  so  to  his  lifelong  friend,  Mr.  Robert 
Haldane,  after  whom  he  named  his  oldest  son.  He 
was  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  1802,  and  became 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Kircaldy,  opposite  Edinburgh, 
and  the  same  year  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Brown,  of  Glasgow.     His  ministry  at  Kircaldy  was 


THE    MULBERRY   STREET   CHURCH  13 

attended  with  great  success.  In  1804  his  mother 
died,  and  he  then  determined  to  carry  out  a  plan 
formed  long  before,  to  emigrate.  The  missionary 
spirit  in  him  was  always  dominant,  and  seeing  no 
immediate  prospect  of  an  open  door  for  missionaries 
in  the  East,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  West,  and 
(with  the  advice  of  Mr.  Haldane)  chose  America  for 
the  field  of  his  future  labors. 

Thereupon  he  resigned  his  pastorate,  and  on  Oc- 
tober 28,  1805,  he  sailed  from  Greenock  with  his 
wife  and  two  children.  After  a  tempestuous  and 
perilous  voyage,  the  family  arrived  safely  on  our 
shores,  and  Dr.  Maclay  preached  his  first  sermon  in 
America  on  shipboard  in  New  York  harbor.  His 
standing  as  an  accredited  minister  of  the  gospel,  his 
confidential  relations  with  well-known  representative 
characters  in  Great  Britain,  and  his  letters  of  com- 
mendation from  such  men  as  Dick,  Haldane,  Fuller, 
and  Hall,  gave  him  a  favorable  introduction  to  men 
of  standing  and  influence  in  America.  He  was 
kindly  received  in  the  community  and  churches  of 
New  York,  and  was  soon  installed  in  a  pastorate  of 
his  own. 

In  this  relation  he  continued  to  preach  without 
any  considerable  intermission  for  thirty-two  years, 
being  from  1809  to  1837  pastor  of  the  same  church 
in  Mulberry  Street. 

But  the  question  still  remains  unanswered.  Where 
did  Doctor  Maclay  preach  before  that  time?  On 
this  the  "MemoriaP^  is  silent.     It  is  certain  that  he 


14  REMINISCENCES 

commenced  his  ministry  in  New  York  as  a  Presby- 
terian. It  is  also  certain  that  the  Mulberry  Street 
Church  was  never  other  than  a  Baptist  church  ; 
moreover,  Doctor  Maclay's  ministry  there  did  not 
commence  until  the  year  1809.  Where  was  he  the 
four  previous  years  ?  It  has  been  said  that  shortly 
after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  he  was  led  to  change 
his  views  regarding  believers'  baptism,  and  that  he 
was  immersed,  but  still  continued  preaching  to  the 
same  people,  until  the  larger  part  of,  if  not  the  entire 
congregation,  embraced  the  same  views.  It  has  been 
fully  ascertained  that  he  received  baptism  at  the 
hands  of  Kev.  John  Williams,  in  the  Oliver  Street 
meeting-house,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever 
became  a  member  of  that  church.  This  information 
was  obtained  from  James  M.  Whitehead,  now  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  a  former  clerk  of  the  Oliver 
Street  Church.  The  probability  of  the  above  is 
moreover  strengthened  by  the  fact  already  recorded, 
the  erection  of  the  large  church  edifice  in  Mulberry 
Street,  for  it  seems  clear,  as  has  been  said,  that  so 
large  a  house  would  not  have  been  built  for  Baptists 
had  there  not  been  somewhere  not  far  distant  a  con- 
gregation of  Baptists  ready  to  occupy  it.  If  so, 
where  was  it  located?  Probably  in  Rose  Street, 
where  "a  moderately  capacious  meeting-house"  is 
said  to  have  been  standing  at  that  time. 

Doctor  Maclay  was  esteemed  a  very  earnest  and 
able  preacher,  and  a  ripe  scholar  for  that  day. 
Multitudes  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  the  large  meet- 


THE    MULBERRY    STREET    CHURCH  15 

ing-house  in  Mulberry  Street  was  crowded.  After 
a  while,  liowever,  such  is  the  unsettled  character  of 
all  earthly  things,  his  popularity  began  to  wane  and 
his  congregation  to  dwindle.  For  this  two  reasons 
will  hereafter  be  assigned,  neither  of  which,  how- 
ever, detracted  from,  or  in  the  smallest  degree 
diminished,  the  high  personal  esteem  and  affection 
in  which  he  was  always  held,  not  only  by  Baptists, 
but  by  Christian  people  of  all  denominations. 

Doctor  Maclay  retired  from  pastoral  work  in 
1837,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  to  become  the  travel- 
ing agent  and  efficient  advocate  of  the  American  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  then  recently  formed,  with 
Spencer  H.  Cone  for  president.  The  church,  while 
accepting  his  resignation,  passed  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

Although  it  is  painful  to  part  with  our  pastor,  espe- 
cially when  we  consider  that  he  was  the  means,  under 
God,  of  planting  this  church,  and  has  so  long  been  its 
faithful,  affectionate,  and  devoted  pastor,  yet,  believing 
that  Providence  has  opened  a  wider  field  of  usefulness  for 
him  in  the  Bible  cause,  and  eminently  qualified  him  to 
labor  in  it,  we  desire  to  acquiesce  in  this  dispensation  of 
Providence,  and  at  the  same  time  express  our  undimin- 
ished and  aff'ectionate  attachment  to  him. 

Thenceforth  Doctor  Maclay  devoted  the  remain- 
der of  his  public  life  to  the  Bible  cause,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
and  the  American  Bible  Union,  having  this  object, 
as  he  expressed  it,  "  To  give  the  Bible  translated  to 


16  REMINISCENCES 

all  nations,  without  any  human  addition,  diminution, 
or  concealment.'^  Engaged  in  this  work  he  traveled 
extensively  in  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and 
in  some  of  the  British  Provinces,  and  was  every- 
where well  received.  At  home  and  abroad  his  name 
was  as  potent  as  his  face  was  familiar.  His  sermon 
on  the  Bible  cause  was  one  of  great  power,  and  was 
published  by  the  hundred  thousand.  It  was  trans- 
lated into  the  Welsh  language,  and  to  this  day  its 
influence  is  felt  among  the  English  and  Welsh- 
speaking  people  throughout  the  United  Kingdom, 
as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 

Doctor  Maclay  encountered  many  perils  while 
traveling  in  the  Bible  cause,  from  some  of  which  he 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.  A  firm  believer  in 
the  doctrine  of  special  Providence  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  he  always  attributed  his  escape  to  the  merci- 
ful interposition  of  Almighty  God. 

Surely  these  escapes  and  exemptions  were  neither 
few  in  number  nor  ordinary  in  kind.  One,  and  per- 
haps the  most  remarkable,  occurred  in  1845,  and 
may  be  remembered  by  some  of  my  older  readers. 
In  this  catastrophe  Doctor  Maclay  lost  everything 
but  his  life.  He  had  taken  passage  on  the  steamer 
Bellezane,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio,  bound  for  New  Or- 
leans, which  was  "  snagged  '^  on  the  Mississippi, 
fifteen  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  Out 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  passengers  sixty- 
five  perished.  Of  the  experience  of  the  night's  dis- 
aster, Doctor  Maclay  says : 


THE    MULBERRY    STREET    CHURCH  17 

During  the  four  hours  I  was  on  the  wreck  I  spent 
most  of  the  time  in  mental  prayer.  I  felt  resigned  and 
composed,  and  I  would  with  gratitude  raise  another 
Ebenezer,  and  say:  "Hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped 
me.  What  shall  I  render  to  God  for  all  his  mercies 
toward  me  ?  " 

Doctor  Maclay  was  neither  disabled  nor  disheart- 
ened by  this  terrible  ordeal.  After  a  brief  interval 
he  resumed  his  work,  and  added  to  his  already  pro- 
tracted service  nearly  ten  years  more  of  arduous 
labor.  The  fruits  of  his  labors  did  not  fall  off  with 
the  lapse  of  years.  The  experience  and  wisdom 
of  age  more  than  made  up  for  the  inevitable  failure 
of  physical  energy,  so  that  the  acme  of  his  useful- 
ness was  at  the  close  of  his  earthly  career. 

To  return  to  the  history  of  Doctor  Maclay's  pas- 
torate in  Mulberry  Street.  The  first  and  perhaps 
the  more  potent  of  the  causes  hinted  at  as  tending  to 
deplete  Doctor  Maclay's  congegation,  was  the  com- 
ing to  the  church  in  Oliver  Street,  little  more  than 
a  stone's  throw  distant,  of  a  young,  eloquent,  and 
already  famous  preacher,  in  the  person  of  Spencer 
Houghton  Cone,  whom  that  church  had  called  to 
assist  their  venerated  pastor.  Rev.  John  Williams. 
Multitudes  flocked  to  hear  him  from  all  parts  of  the 
city,  and  perhaps  the  Mulberry  Street  Church  suf- 
fered most  because  it  was  the  nearest. 

Another  reason  appeared  thirteen  years  later, 
when  many  of  the  members,  among  them  some  of 
the  wealthiest,  were  dismissed  by  letter  for  the  pur- 


18  REMINISCENCES 

pose  of  forming  a  new  Baptist  interest  on  the  west 
side  of  the  city,  to  be  known  as  the  West  Baptist 
Church — a  laudable  object  certainly,  but  not  des- 
tined to  be  successful.  A  church  was  organized  and 
publicly  recognized,  receiving  a  hearty  welcome  into 
the  family  of  Baptist  churches.  The  new  church 
held  its  first  assemblies  in  Gothic  Hall,  then  on 
Broadway  (east  side)  one  door  below  Pearl  Street, 
and  shortly  afterward  called  Rev.  John  Dowling, 
then  pastor  of  a  church  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  to  become 
their  pastor.  He  accepted  the  call  and  preached 
with  great  acceptance.  But  the  contemplated  church 
edifice  could  not  be  built.  The  commercial  panic 
which  struck  the  entire  country  in  1837  and  spread 
its  disastrous  results  over  the  two  following  years, 
and  which  proved  especially  disastrous  to  this  city 
because  of  the  "great  fire''  of  1835,  swept  away  the 
fortunes  of  nearly,  if  not  quite  all,  the  brethren  who 
had  embarked  in  the  new  enterprise.  The  now  en- 
feebled West  Baptist  Church,  though  heroically  led 
by  its  pastor,  was  forced  to  abandon  its  name  and 
its  independent  existence.  It  was  finally  merged  in 
the  new  organization,  thenceforth  to  be  known  as 
the  Tabernacle  Baptist  Church,  of  which  church 
more  will  be  said. 

In  order  to  facilitate  this  merging  of  interests, 
Doctor  Dowling  resigned,  and  shortly  after  became 
pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  in  Providence,  R.  I., 
then  worshiping  in  Pine  Street,  of  that  city. 


SPENCER  H.  CONE,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  OLIVER  STREET  CHURCH  AND  SPENCER  H. 
CONE 

SPENCER  HOUGHTON  CONE  entered  upon 
his  work  in  May,  1823,  having  just  passed  his 
thirty-eighth  birthday.  His  sermons  were  entirely 
unlike  the  usual  preaching  of  that  day,  both  in  their 
structure  and  the  manner  of  their  delivery,  and 
they  at  once  charmed  and  captivated  his  hearers. 
Although  but  little  above  medium  height,  his  erect 
and  graceful  figure  gave  him  a  distinguished  person- 
ality which  was  at  once  impressive  and  pleasing. 
Added  to  this,  he  had  an  easy,  even  flow  of  lan- 
guage, never  hesitating  for  a  word,  and  rarely,  if 
ever,  recalling  one.  Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  of 
his  gifts  was  his  inimitable  voice.  It  was  not  loud 
and  startling,  not  metallic,  except  as  it  was  golden ; 
not  sometimes  like  a  clap  of  thunder,  and  then  an 
almost  inaudible  whisper — but  it  is  easier  to  say 
what  it  was  noty  than  to  say  what  it  was.  Yet  none 
ever  listened  to  its  mellifluous  cadences  without 
feeling  a  charm  indescribable,  but  never  to  be  for- 
gotten. Mr.  Cone  was  not  a  stranger  in  our  city 
when  he  came  to  take  up  his  work  in  Oliver  Street. 
His  first  visit  (as  we  learn  from  the  "Life  of  Spencer 

19 


20  REMINISCENCES 

H.  Cone/'  P^g^  160)  was  in  the  fall  or  early  winter 
of  1818,  and  the  errand  on  which  he  came  throws  a 
forelight  on  his  future  career  as  the  successful  pro- 
moter of  missionary  work  at  home  and  abroad.  He 
had  been  pastor  successively  of  the  little  churches 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  Alexandria,  Va.,  and  in 
both  places  his  preaching  attracted  large  congrega- 
tions, and  resulted,  through  divine  blessing,  in  the 
conversion  of  many  persons. 

In  1818  he  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Alexan- 
dria. Gracious  showers  of  divine  blessing  had  de- 
scended on  his  ministry,  and  there  were  many  conver- 
sions and  great  spiritual  prosperity,  but  the  people 
were  poor,  and  then,  as  now.  New  York,  always  sup- 
posed to  be  rich  and  known  to  be  generous,  was  the 
objective  point  to  which  the  needy  turned  for  help, 
and  then  as  now,  a  church  in  such  condition  sends 
its  pastor  to  plead  its  cause.  Mr.  Cone  accepted 
the  commission  and  the  responsibility.  A  good 
friend,  who  knew  how  to  put  him  on  the  right  path, 
gave  him  a  letter  to  Deacon  Thomas  Garniss  (living 
then  on  the  corner  of  James  and  Chatham  Streets) 
and  the  next  Lord's  Day  morning  the  young  preacher 
from  Virginia  was  heard  (for  the  first  time  in  New 
York)  from  the  pulpit  of  the  Oliver  Street  Baptist 
Church,  pleading  the  cause  of  the  little  church  under 
his  pastoral  care,  which  he  rightly  contended  was  a 
mission  field. 

Mr.  Cone's  second  visit  to  New  York  occurred  a 
little   later,  when   he   preached   in   several    of  our 


THE   OLIVER   STREET   CHURCH  21 

churches  with  such  eclat  that  steps  were  immediately 
taken  to  induce  him  to  leave  his  isolated  position  in 
Alexandria,  and  come  to  New  York.  This  solicita- 
tion, first  extended  to  him  in  1818,  was  now  pressed 
upon  him  by  many  of  the  acknowledged  leaders  and 
wealthiest  members  of  our  churches,  with  the  assur- 
ance that  a  new  interest  should  be  started  and  a  new 
church  edifice  be  at  once  erected  on  the  most  eligible 
spot  in  the  city,  provided  he  would  accept  a  call/ 
But  Mr.  Cone  chose  to  remain  in  the  locality  where 
the  Master  first  called  him  to  labor,  until  he  should 
have  a  fuller  revelation  or  conviction  of  the  divine 
will.  This  did  not  come  to  him,  as  we  have  seen, 
until  1823,  nearly  five  years  later.  In  the  month 
of  May  of  that  year,  he  began  his  work  in  Oliver 
Street  as  assistant  to  Rev.  John  AVilliams,  and  on 
the  death  of  that  venerable  man,  on  May  30,  1825, 
Spencer  H.  Cone,  who  had  already  been  elected 
junior  pastor,  became  the  pastor  of  the  Oliver  Street 
Baptist  Church. 

From  this  time  forward  his  popularity  as  a 
preacher,  his  personal  magnetism,  and  his  marked 
ability  as  a  presiding  and  executive  officer,  made 
Spencer  H.  Cone  a  central  figure  and  an  acknowl- 
edged leader  in  our  Baptist  Israel.  The  Oliver  Street 
Church  became  a  rallying  center  for  the  friends,  espe- 
cially, of  foreign  missions.  The  "  monthly  concert  of 
prayer  for  foreign  missions,' '  held  in  the  large  lec- 

1  Life  of  S.  H.  Cone. 


22  KEMINISCENCES 

ture  room  of  the  church  the  first  Monday  of  each 
month,  attracted  large  numbers  from  all  the  other 
churches  to  hear  reports  from  laborers  on  foreign 
fields,  with  all  of  which  the  Oliver  Street  pastor  had 
put  himself  in  communication,  and  with  many  of 
whom  he  had  been  more  or  less  closely  in  touch  for 
years  before  his  coming  to  New  York.  His  heart 
warmed  with  encouragement  as  he  found  himself 
surrounded  with  coadjutors,  willing  and  able  com- 
peers in  the  work  of  extending  the  knowledge  of  the 
Saviour  throughout  the  whole  world.  The  church 
in  Oliver  Street  had  heard  and  heeded  the  great 
commission  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature,''  and  numbered  among 
its  members  many  of  the  most  liberal  contributors 
to  carry  out  that  command.  It  is  a  pleasing  thought 
that  God  has  honored  their  devotion,  insomuch  that 
their  children  and  grandchildren  are  among  the 
most  active  and  efficient  co-operators  in  the  same 
good  work  to  this  day ! 

'^Faith'^  proded  by  ^^ works J^  Perhaps  there  have 
been  few  periods  in  the  history  of  our  churches  when 
God's  people  labored  more  faithfully,  and  when  the 
divine  blessing  resting  on  their  labors  was  more  con- 
spicuous. At  no  period,  certainly,  were  the  "  weekly 
prayer  meetings  "  better  attended,  the  "  neighborhood 
prayer  meetings"  more  numerous,  or  supplication 
more  earnest !  This  too  was  the  period  of  "  early 
prayer  meetings,"  often  held  as  early  as  five  o'clock 
A.  M.,  in  the  depth  of  winter  too.     How  well  I  re- 


THE   OLIVER   STREET   CHURCH  23 

member  the  Sunday  morning  prayer  meeting,  held 
in  the  gallery  back  of  the  pulpit  in  the  old  Oliver 
Street  Church,  and  led  by  one  of  the  deacons,  to 
seek  preparation  for,  and  ask  a  blessing  on,  the  Sun- 
day-school instruction,  the  preaching  of  the  word, 
and  all  the  exercises  of  the  sacred  day. 


CHAPTER  V 

A  DIGRESSION 

IF  asked  why,  after  giving  a  list  of  our  churches 
in  the  order  of  their  organization,  I  omit  the 
First  Church,  organized  in  1763,  and  pass  on  to  the 
Oliver  Street  Church,  organized  twenty-eight  years 
later,  I  reply.  With  a  single  exception,  I  am  in- 
debted for  all  the  knowledge  I  possess  concerning 
the  former  church,  prior  to  1841,  to  my  friend 
Roger  H.  Lyon,  Esq.,  and  an  address  read  by  him 
at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  their  present 
church  on  Boulevard,  corner  of  Seventy-ninth  Street. 
The  exception  :  In  the  latter  part  of  1835  or  the 
beginning  of  1836, 1  attended  public  worship  in  the 
meeting-house  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  in  Gold 
Street  between  Fulton  and  John  Streets.  The 
ground  on  Avhich  the  house  stood  was  afterward  a 
coal  yard,  and  is  now  occupied  by  Robert  Hoe  & 
Co.,  for  some  part  of  their  business  as  printing  press 
manufacturers.  There  I  heard  a  sermon  from  Rev. 
William  Parkinson.  He  was  a  man  of  noble  pres- 
ence and  dignified  bearing,  much  above  medium 
height  and  far  past  the  meridian  of  life.  I  did  not 
then  consider  him  an  orator,  although  I  believe  he 
was  so  considered,  but  he  impressed  me  as  a  re- 

24 


A   DIGRESSION  25 

markably  clear,  cogent,  and  forceful  preacher.  In 
these  particulars  perhaps  there  are  few  superiors  to 
him  even  in  the  present  day.  I  have  been  informed 
that  Doctor  Parkinson  was  accustomed  to  preach  on 
Sunday  afternoons  during  suitable  weather  from  the 
steps  of  the  City  Hall,  where  he  sometimes  spoke  to 
one  thousand  persons,  and  that  when  he  resigned  his 
pastorate  in  the  First  Church  it  was  his  purpose 
never  to  accept  another,  but  to  continue  these  Sun- 
day afternoon  addresses  so  long  as  he  should  have 
strength  to  do  so.  Afterward,  however,  he  was 
persuaded  otherwise,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come 
to  note  the  organization  of  the  Bethesda  Baptist 
Church. 

The  writer  trusts  too,  that  he  will  be  pardoned 
for  continuing  this  digression  long  enough  to  record 
what  he  knows  of  the  history  of  two  noble  churches, 
composed  of  people  of  color,  which  were  in  existence 
in  1835. 

The  first  of  these,  the  Abyssinian  Church,  was 
located  in  Anthony  Street,  corner  of  Church  Street. 
The  church  was  organized  in  1808.  Its  pastor. 
Rev.  William  Spelman,  was  of  Southern  birth,  a 
barber  by  profession,  and  like  Onesimus,  once  a 
slave.  He  possessed  great  strength  of  character 
and  ruled  like  an  autocrat;  but  his  people  respected 
and  loved  him,  and  his  church-membership  was  at 
one  time  the  largest  of  any  Baptist  church  in  the 
city.  The  up-town  movement  of  business  forced 
them  to  abandon  their   location,   and   they  found 


26  REMINISCENCES 

scant  shelter  in  the  small  frame  building  in  Waverly 
Place,  where  they  still  remain.  The  old  pastor  saw 
much  trouble  in  his  later  days  through  some  who 
sought  to  create  divisions  in  the  church,  but  he  lived 
to  a  good  old  age  and  retained  to  the  last  the  sym- 
pathy and  respect  of  all  his  white  brethren,  both 
ministers  and  laymen.  But  the  strife  in  the  church 
continued,  and  for  twelve  years  they  were  deprived 
of  fellowship  in  the  Southern  New  York  Baptist 
Association,  because  of  their  persistent  litigation  in 
the  courts. 

In  1897  they  reported  to  the  Association  that  they 
had  withdrawn  all  their  suits,  and  on  the  strength 
of  this  report  they  were  restored  to  fellowship  and 
to  their  original  position  in  the  list  of  churches. 
The  church  is  now  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev. 
R.  D.  Wynn,  and  is  believed  to  be  prospering,  spir- 
itually at  least,  its  present  (1898)  number  being 
eight  hundred  and  eighty. 

The  second,  the  Zion  Baptist  Church,  was  organ- 
ized in  1832.  In  1835,  and  many  years  later,  it 
was  under  the  care  of  Rev.  John  T.  Raymond.  It 
worshiped  in  Pearl  Street  a  little  west  of  Chatham. 

After  Mr.  Raymond's  death  it  had  a  very  check- 
ered history,  but  still  maintains  its  visibility  at  164 
West  Twenty-sixth  Street,  where  it  enjoys  the  excel- 
lent ministry  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Scott,  its  present  (1898) 
membership  being  three  hundred  and  ninety-six. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OLIVER   STREET   CHURCH  (CONTINUED),  1841-1890 

AFTER  the  resignation  of  Spencer  H.  Cone,  the 
Oliver  Street  Church  called  for  their  next 
pastor  Rev.  Elisha  Tucker,  d.  d.,  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.  Doctor  Tucker  entered  upon  his  pastoral 
work  on  the  first  Sunday  in  October,  1841,  and 
served  the  church  with  great  acceptance  until  May, 
1848,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  pastorate  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Chicago,  111.  His  res- 
ignation was  accepted  with  deep  regret,  and  the 
church  voted  him  a  half-year's  salary  as  a  token  of 
their  love  and  appreciation  of  his  faithful  services. 

After  Doctor  Tucker  resigned  the  church  was 
without  a  pastor  for  a  year  and  a  half,  but  was 
faithfully  supplied  by  Rev.  Lemuel  Covel.  During 
Doctor  Tucker's  pastorate  the  church  was  greatly 
afflicted  in  the  loss  of  their  meeting-house  by  fire, 
the  house  in  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  wor- 
shiped since  1819.  No  time  was  lost  in  preparing 
to  erect  a  new  edifice ;  but  many  tender  memories 
were  stirred,  and  many  hearts  made  sad.  Yet  Doc- 
tor Tucker's  pastorate  is  still  remembered  as  one  of 
the  most  successful  on  their  records. 

The  following  description  of  a  monthly  Commun- 

27 


28  REMINISCENCES 

ion,  copied  by  permission  from  a  paper  read  by  Mr. 
George  M.  Yanderlip,  at  the  thirtieth  anniversary 
of  the  Hudson  River  Baptist  Association,  South,  is 
a  pen-picture  worthy  of  an  artist : 

On  an  elevated  platform  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  sat  in 
the  center  the  imposing  and  dignified  form  of  the  pas- 
tor, Doctor  Tucker,  a  man  of  fifty  years,  whose  long  hair 
was  turning  silvery  gray,  supported  by  six  venerable- 
looking  deacons,  all  older  than  himself.  On  one  side  sat 
the  gentle  and  well-beloved  Thomas  Purser,  then  James 
Wilson,  then  Robert  Edwards ;  on  the  other  side  Jacob 
Smith  (the  oldest  deacon),  then  Roger  Pegg,  and  then 
the  youngest  deacon,  Isaac  Newton.  It  was  a  goodly 
sight.  They  are  all  in  heaven  now.  "They  rest  from 
their  labours  and  their  works  do  follow  them. ' ' 

Doctor  Tucker  died  in  1853,  while  on  a  visit  to 
his  son  in  Cumberland,  Md.  At  the  solicitation  of 
many  members  of  the  Oliver  Street  Church  who  had 
been  converted  under  his  ministry,  the  family  per- 
mitted his  remains  to  be  brought  to  this  city  to  be 
buried  from  the  Oliver  Street  meeting-house,  and  to 
rest  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  where  a  lot  was  pur- 
chased and  a  monument  erected  by  the  same  friends, 
and  then  made  over  to  the  survivors  of  the  family. 

In  1849  the  church  extended  a  call  to  Rev.  E.  L. 
Magoon,  of  Cincinnati,  O.,  to  become  their  pastor, 
and  he  consented  to  supply  their  pulpit  for  six 
months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  accepted  a  per- 
manent call.  The  widespread  reputation  of  the 
gifted  pastor  attracted  large  numbers  to  their  house 


OLIVER    STREET   CHURCH  29 

of  worship ;  but  the  tide  of  the  church-going  popu- 
lation had  set  up-town  and  stores  and  tenement 
houses  had  begun  to  fill  the  streets  where  had  been 
the  dwellings  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  church- 
members.  The  movement  was  a  sudden  one,  and 
the  churches  which  followed  the  population  pros- 
pered. For  several  years  there  was  much  encour- 
agement in  large  congregations,  and  numerous  con- 
versions, but  the  steady  drain  by  removals  continu- 
ing, left  little  to  hope  for.  The  prospect  of  removal 
being  still  remote,  on  June  30, 1857,  Doctor  Magoon 
tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  finally  accepted, 
the  church  voting  him  a  present  of  one  thousand 
dollars.  During  the  pastorate  of  Doctor  Magoon, 
Rev.  C.  C.  Norton  was  ordained  to  the  ministry, 
and  accepted  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Sixth  Street 
Baptist  Church,  and  Rev.  Howard  Osgood,  formerly 
an  Episcopalian,  was  immersed.  Rev.  Doctor  Nor- 
ton preached  the  gospel  in  this  city  forty  years,  and 
recently  went  to  his  rest.  Dr.  Howard  Osgood  now 
fills  a  professor's  chair  in  the  theological  seminary 
at  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

In  April,  1858,  and  again  in  February,  1859,  the 
Oliver  Street  Church  extended  a  call  to  Rev.  Henry 
G.  Weston,  of  Peoria,  111.,  to  become  their  pastor. 
These  first  calls  were  declined,  but  being  providen- 
tially in  the  city  in  March  of  the  same  year,  he  was 
invited  to  preach,  and  finally  agreed  to  accept  the 
call.  His  acceptance  gave  great  joy  to  the  church, 
and  his  preaching  gave  universal  satisfaction,  but 


30  REMINISCENCES 

each  passing  month  made  the  necessity  for  speedy 
removal  more  apparent  and  more  pressing,  and  a 
committee  of  judicious  brethren  was  appointed  to 
examine  into  the  matter  and  report  some  plan  of 
action.  After  the  report  had  been  received,  au- 
thority was  given  to  sell  the  property  and  purchase 
lots  somewhere  within  the  territory  bounded  by 
Third  and  Fourth  Avenues,  and  Thirty-Second 
and  Thirty-fourth  Streets.  Before  anything  defi- 
nite had  been  accomplished  the  church  received  a 
communication  from  the  Madison  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  whose  pastor.  Dr.  William  Hague,  had  re- 
signed, suggesting  a  union  of  these  two  churches. 
The  proposition  was  so  far  favorably  entertained  as 
to  lead  to  the  appointment  of  a  committee  consisting 
of  deacons  Wm.  Phelps,  Samuel  Raynor,  Richard 
Stout,  and  brethren  Wm.  D.  Murphy,  Alfred  Decker, 
John  M.  Ferrier,  and  Geo.  M.  Vanderlip,  to  meet 
a  committee  of  the  same  number  of  the  Madison 
Avenue  Baptist  Church,  consisting  of  brethren  Geo. 
W.  Abbe,  Hiram  Huston,  Joseph  F.  Lake,  Wm.  H. 
Chapman,  Thos.  Porter,  Wm.  J.  Todd,  and  Jeremiah 
Milbank,  who  were  instructed  to  consider  the  whole 
matter,  and  if  they  thought  it  advisable,  to  report 
some  plan  for  uniting  the  two  churches  in  one. 
These  brethren,  after  serious  consideration,  agreed 
upon  a  plan  of  union  which  they  recommended  to 
their  respective  churches,  and  which  said  churches 
adopted,  recommending  that  application  be  made  by 
each  church  to  the  Court  for  permission  to  sell  their 


OLIVER   STREET   CHURCH  31 

respective  properties  and  to  become  one  church,  un- 
der the  corporate  name  of  the  Madison  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  with  the  following  stipulations : 

First.  That  the  Madison  Avenue  Church  shall 
convey  all  its  property,  real  and  personal,  to  the 
Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church,  and  that  its  corporate 
powers  shall  then  cease  ;  that  said  church  shall  then 
make  a  list  of  its  members,  duly  certified  by  its 
clerk,  for  the  purpose  of  its  union  with  the  Oliver 
Street  Church ;  that  on  such  list  being  presented, 
they  shall  be  constituted  members  of  that  church, 
and  thereupon  the  regular  services  shall  be  held  in 
the  house  of  worship  of  the  Madison  Avenue 
Church. 

Second.  The  trustees  of  the  Oliver  Street  Church 
are  to  resign,  and  an  election  for  new  trustees  or- 
dered by  the  congregation  united,  shall  be  had ;  the 
resignation  of  the  present  trustees  to  take  effect 
when  others  shall  have  been  elected. 

Third.  The  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church  then 
to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  cause  its  corporate 
name  to  be  changed  to  that  of  the  Madison  Avenue 
Baptist  Church. 

Fourth.  The  real  and  personal  property  now 
owned  by  the  Madison  Avenue  Baptist  Church  and 
that  owned  by  the  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church, 
upon  such  transfer  and  union  as  aforesaid,  is  to 
become  liable  for  the  indebtedness  of  both  said 
churches. 

On  September  29,  1862,  at  meetings  duly  called, 


32  REMINISCENCES 

the  report  of  the  joint  committee  was  adopted  by 
both  churches  respectively,  and  the  trustees  of  both 
churches  were  authorized  and  directed  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  perfect  the  union  of  said  two 
churches. 

On  October  6,  1862,  at  a  meeting  duly  called, 
the  trustees  of  the  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church 
adopted  and  approved  a  resolution  pledging  them- 
selves to  carry  out  and  perfect  said  plan  and  agree- 
ment for  effecting  and  perfecting  a  union  of  said  two 
churches.  Other  stipulations  were  added  and  mu- 
tually agreed  to,  and  thereupon  formal  application 
was  made  to,  and  obtained  from,  the  Supreme  Court 
to  issue  an  order  to  complete  the  same.  Said  appli- 
cation was  signed  by  S.  Y.  Bagley,  attorney,  in  be- 
half of  the  petition  of  the  Oliver  Street  Church,  and 
by  William  H.  Chapman,  chairman,  and  George  W. 
Abbe,  secretary  of  the  Board  of  trustees  of  the  Mad- 
ison Avenue  Baptist  Church. 

The  order  of  the  Court  was  issued,  and  so  far  the 
union  of  the  two  churches  seemed  to  be  perfect  and 
to  promise  the  happiest  results.  But  alas !  it  turned 
out  far  otherwise.  Slight  misunderstandings  led 
unhappily  to  acrid  disputes ;  criminations  and  re- 
criminations followed,  resulting  in  an  "appeal  to 
Caesar."  A  fierce  litigation  ensued  which  lasted 
twenty  years,  causing  sorrow  to  every  Christian 
heart,  while  the  ungodly  pointed  the  finger  of  scorn, 
and  said — not,  "See  how  these  Christians  love  one 
another,"  but,  "  How  they  bite  and  devour  one  an- 


OLIVER   STREET   CHURCH  33 

other.^'  Yet  these  litigants  were  earnest  Christian 
men,  and  both  sides  believed  they  were  in  the  right. 
Among  those  on  both  sides  the  writer  cherishes  the 
memory  of  many  who  were  his  very  dear  friends. 
Let  us  remember  their  many  virtues,  and  cast  the 
mantle  of  charity  over  their  human  failures.  The 
litigation  was  at  length  brought  to  an  end  by  the 
final  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  ruled 
that,  owing  to  a  defect  in  the  deed  of  conveyance, 
the  property  in  dispute  had  never  passed  from  its 
first  owners  to  the  new  organization  (the  united 
church),  and  consequently  the  Oliver  Street  Church 
had  paid  its  money  without  receiving  the  stipulated 
consideration.  On  the  other  hand,  they  (the  Oliver 
Street  people)  had  had  the  use  of  property  to  which 
they  had  no  legal  title,  and  must  therefore  pay  rent. 

The  Court  subsequently  awarded  what  it  consid- 
ered an  equitable  sum  to  the  Oliver  Street  party, 
and  with  the  amount  so  awarded,  and  very  large 
contributions  among  themselves,  they  purchased  the 
ground  and  built  the  edifice  which  they  now  occupy 
on  Madison  Avenue,  corner  of  Sixty-fourth  Street. 

In  1879  they  called  Rev.  J.  F.  Elder,  from 
Orange,  N.  J.,  to  become  their  pastor;  and  in  1882 
they  assumed  the  name  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  the 
Epiphany.  Doctor  Elder  resigned  the  pastorate 
May  12,  1890,  but  supplied  the  pulpit  several 
months  before  leaving  to  accept  the  call  of  Calvary 
Baptist  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  he  is  an  hon- 
ored and  much-loved  pastor. 


34  REMINISCENCES 

Doctor  Elder  was  succeeded  in  the  Church  of 
the  Epiphany  by  John  T.  Beckley,  D.  D.,  and  on 
his  retirement  from  the  pastoral  office,  the  church 
called  its  present  highly  efficient  pastor,  Rev.  How- 
ard L.  Jones.  While  their  edifice  was  being  built 
they  worshiped  in  the  church  edifice  in  West  Fifty- 
third  Street,  now  the  Mount  Olivet  Baptist  Church. 
Its  present  membership  (1898)  is  two  hundred  and 
sixty-five.  May  the  Lord  bless  this  grand  old 
church,  and  make  it  a  blessing  from  generation  to 
generations  yet  unborn ! 


CHAPTER  yil 

NORTH    BERIAH    AND   SOUTH    BAPTIST   CHURCHES 

THE  North  Beriah  Baptist  Church  (now  the 
North  Baptist  Church)  was  organized  in  1813. 
Its  pastor,  in  1835,  was  Rev.  Duncan  Dunbar, 
a  typical  Scottish  Highlander.  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  spoke  the  Gaelic,  but  his  speech  was 
very  different  from  that  of  the  lowlands  of  Scot- 
land, and  it  never  changed,  although  he  lived  most 
of  his  days  in  America,  and  had  been  a  pastor  in 
Boston  and  other  Eastern  cities.  He  was  a  large 
hearted  man  whom  everybody  loved  and  who  loved 
everybody.  His  preaching  was  full  of  unction  and 
largely  experimental,  a  word  much  in  vogue  in  those 
days.  He  fed  his  people  on  the  word  of  God,  and 
many  strong  men  and  gifted  women  were  the  fruit 
of  his  ministry.  The  church  might  well  have  been 
called  a  nursery  for  Christian  workers,  as  many  able 
teachers  and  preachers  were  raised  up  there.  Mr. 
Dunbar  was  pastor  of  this  church  at  two  different 
times,  between  which  he  was  pastor  in  South  Boston 
and  Philadelphia.  The  church  Sunday-school  was 
superintended  by  Mr.  S.  W.  Seton,  an  Episcopalian. 
In  1859  the  church  assumed  the  name  Macdougal 
Street  Baptist  Church,  which  it  retained  until  quite 

35 


36  KEMINISCENCES 

recently,  when  it  was  merged  into  the  North  Baptist 
Church,  now  in  West  Eleventh  Street.  The  church 
had  many  pastors  after  Mr.  Dunbar,  but  their  old 
meeting-house  is  still  standing  in  Macdougal  Street, 
opposite  Van  Dam  Street,  and  presents  the  same 
general  appearance  that  it  did  more  than  sixty  years 
ago.  The  present  number  of  members  (1898)  is 
three  hundred  and  nine. 

South  Baptist  Church  (now  West  Thirty-third 
Street).  This  church  was  organized  in  1822.  It 
was  located  on  Nassau  Street.  Its  pastor  was  Kev. 
Chas.  G.  Somers.  The  building  in  which  the  church 
worshiped  is  still  standing  on  the  east  side  of  the 
street,  between  Fulton  and  John  Streets,  but  has 
long  since  been  turned  into  offices  for  business.  Mr, 
Somers  was  born  in  England,  but  was  educated  in 
some  part  of  Germany.  He  found  much  difficulty 
with  the  letter  r,  being  obliged  to  substitute  w  in  its 
place.  This,  however,  was  by  no  means  unpleasant 
to  his  audiences.  He  had  a  deep-toned  and  very 
musical  voice,  which  gave  a  peculiar  charm  to  his 
speech.  He  was  withal  an  earnest  and  impressive 
preacher,  and  a  pleasing  platform  speaker. 

An  old  friend  of  the  writer,  who  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  South  Church,  informed  him  that  Mr. 
Somers,  when  a  youth,  was  in  the  employ  of  John 
Jacob  Astor,  and  that  on  one  occasion  Mr.  Astor  de- 
manded of  him  some  secular  services  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  which  young  Somers  refused  to  render,  giving 
as  his  reason,  that  on  that  day  he  served  exclusively 


NORTH  BERIAH  AND  SOUTH  CHURCHES         37 

another  Master.  The  same  friend  also  informed  me 
that  the  meeting-house  in  Nassau  Street  was  built 
and  owned  by  Mr.  Somer^s  father-in-law,  Deacon 
Skelding,  who  desired  to  give  him  the  title  deed. 
Mr.  Somers  declined  to  accept  the  gift ;  thereupon 
Deacon  Skelding  made  the  property  over  to  the 
church,  with  the  proviso  that  Mr.  Somers  should  re- 
ceive therefrom  a  salary  of  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  yearly,  so  long  as  he  remained 
their  pastor. 

Somewhere  about  1852  the  church  moved  to  a 
meeting-house  located  on  the  corner  of  Hammond 
(now  West  Eleventh)  Street  and  Factory  Street,  and 
subsequently  to  the  building  corner  of  Eighth  Ave- 
nue and  Twenty-third  Street.  While  there  Doctor 
Somers  retired  from  the  pastorate.  In  1856  the 
church  purchased  and  moved  into  the  meeting-house 
in  Twenty-fifth  Street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth 
Avenues,  and  called  Rev.  A.  H.  Burlingham  to  be- 
come their  pastor.  Doctor  Burlingham  served  the 
church  successfully  until  1865.  Rev.  John  Dowling, 
D.  D.,  and  others,  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  few 
months,  after  which  Rev.  Halsey  W.  Knapp  was 
pastor  for  one  year,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  bro- 
ther. Rev.  S.  J.  Knapp. 

In  1872  Rev.  M.  G.  Hodge  became  pastor.  He 
was  followed  two  years  later  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Osborne. 
Doctor  Osborne  resigned  in  1874,  and  a  few  years 
later  the  church  received  into  its  fellowship  the 
members  of  the  Plymouth  Baptist  Church,  which 


38  REMINISCENCES 

had  been  organized  ten  years  before  in  West  Fifty- 
fourth  Street,  and  the  pastor  of  that  church,  Rev. 
A.  Stewart  Walsh,  became  pastor  of  the  South 
Church,  which  shortly  after  ceased  to  exist  as  an 
independent  church,  and  was  merged  into  the  Pil- 
grim Baptist  Church,  located  in  West  Thirty-third 
Street.  This  latter  church  grew  out  of  the  efforts 
of  two  brethren,  James  M.  Peck  and  H.  H.  Salmon. 
These  brethren  hired  a  hall  in  Thirty-fourth  Street, 
where  they  gathered  a  large  Sunday-school,  which 
served  as  a  nucleus  to  the  Pilgrim  Church.  Their 
first  pastor  was  Rev.  G.  A.  Peltz,  who  was  followed 
by  Rev.  Halsey  W.  Knapp,  and  later  by  Rev.  J. 
Spencer  Kennard.  Among  those  who  helped  to 
build  up  this  church  were  brethren  Wm.  B.  Waite, 
Calvin  Stevens,  R.  G.  Cornell,  and  many  others, 
who  have  passed  on  to  the  better  world.  The 
church  is  now  under  the  successful  pastorate  of 
Rev.  Edwin  S.  HoUoway,  with  a  present  member- 
ship (1898)  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-two. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

STANTON    STREET    BAPTIST    CHURCH 

THE  Union  (now  Stanton  Street)  Baptist  Church, 
was  organized  in  1823,  assumed  the  name  of 
the  Stanton  Street  Baptist  Church  in  1834,  and  en- 
tered fully  upon  the  prosperous  career  that  has 
marked  its  history. 

The  following  account  of  its  origin,  taken  from 
^^A  History  of  the  Stanton  Street  Church,  by 
Charles  B.  Stout  and  his  associate  in  the  clerkship 
of  the  Church ''  (Mr.  Thomas  J.  Grout),  will  be 
found  full  of  interest : 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1823,  a  number  of  mem- 
bers in  good  standing  in  the  Mulberry  Street  Church, 
New  York,  expressed  a  wish  to  be  dismissed,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  constituting  a  new  church  in  another  part  of  the 
city.  After  considering  their  request,  the  following  letter 
was  granted  them  : 

To  ALL  WHOM  IT  MAY  CONCERN  :  This  is  to  Certify  that 
the  brethren  and  sisters  whose  names  are  hereunto 
affixed,  are  hereby  regularly  dismissed  from  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Mulberry  Street,  New  York,  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  Rev.  Archibald  Maclay,  for  the  purpose  of 
uniting  together  in  the  formation  of  a  new  and  regular 
Baptist  Church  in  the  si.me  city,  and  may  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church  crown  their  efforts  with  success  and 
his  rich  and  effective  blessing,  that  they  may  be  built  on 


40  REMINISCENCES 

the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
being  the  chief  corner-stone. 

Done  by  ordei-  of  the  church. 

William  Winterton,  Church  clerk. 
New  York,  September  23, 1823. 

John  Hazlett,  Michael  Noe, 

Zilpah  Hazlett,  Elizabeth  Noe, 

Jane  Hazlett,  Wm.  B.  Swift, 

Stephen  Hyde,  Charlotte  Blakeley, 

Caroline  Hyde,  Catharine  Clark, 

Frederick  Pattillo,  Mary  Cheeseman, 

Catherine  Pattillo,  Hannah  Ashford. 

Immediately  on  receiving  this  letter,  these  breth- 
ren and  sisters  procured  a  place  to  meet  at  63 
Chrystie  Street,  then  far  up-town,  and  they  had 
public  worship  the  next  Sunday,  Brother  John  W. 
Gibbs  being  the  preacher.  It  was  resolved  to  en- 
gage Brother  Gibbs  at  a  salary  of  two  hundred  dol- 
lars per  annum,  but  they  subsequently  voted  fifty 
dollars  additional.  Shortly  afterward  a  council 
assembled  at  the  house  of  Brother  Noe,  to  which 
the  new  church  submitted  their  articles  of  faith  and 
covenant. 

This  council  was  composed  of  Revs.  Archibald 
Maclay,  Charles  G.  Somers,  Johnson  Chase,  John 

Williams,  and Smith.     After  due  deliberation, 

the  council  resolved  unanimously  that  these  brethren 
and  sisters  should  be  recognized  as  a  regular  Baptist 
church,  and  the  names  of  William  S.  Duzenbury 
and  Ann  Elgreen  were  added  to  the  original  number. 
The  council  then  adjourned  to  the  meeting-house, 


STANTON    STREET    BAPTIST    CHURCH  41 

where  a  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Charles  G. 
Somers,  and  the  hand  of  fellowship  was  given  by 
Rev.  Archibald  Maclay.  The  writer  has  a  distinct 
recollection  of  all  the  persons  mentioned  above,  ex- 
cept Rev.  John  Williams  and  Rev.  Smith. 

On  Lord's  Day,  November  2,  Ann  Hulse  was 
proposed  for  baptism,  and  was  the  first  believer 
baptized  into  the  fellowship  of  the  new  church.  It 
was  soon  ascertained  that  Brother  Gibbs'  salary  was 
not  sufficient  for  his  support ;  but  the  little  church 
was  unable  to  increase  it,  and  therefore  released  him 
from  his  engagement,  and  voted  to  depend  on  such 
gratuitous  supplies  as  they  might  be  able  to  obtain. 
On  April  16,  1824,  the  church  voted  a  license  to 
Deacon  Noe  to  preach  the  gospel. 

About  this  time  the  church  moved  to  the  school- 
room over  the  watch-house  in  Eldridge  Street,  and 
the  same  year  invited  Rev.  Samuel  Eastman  to  be- 
come their  pastor.  The  call  was  accepted,  and  Mr. 
Eastman  entered  on  his  pastoral  labors  in  the 
summer  of  1824.  The  same  year  the  church  voted 
unanimously,  as  usual,  to  connect  itself  with  the 
Hudson  River  Baptist  Association,  in  which  fellow- 
ship it  has  always  continued.  The  membership  at 
this  time  only  numbered  twenty-four. 

After  six  years  of  faithful  labor,  during  which 
he  baptized  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  persons, 
failing  health  compelled  Mr.  Eastman  to  resign  the 
pastorate,  and  in  the  year  1831,  the  church,  con- 
sisting then  of  one  hundred  and  ten  members,  ex- 


42  KEMINISCENCES 

tended  a  call  to  Rev.  George  Benedict,  of  Danbury, 
Conn.,  to  become  its  pastor.  They  could  only 
offer  five  hundred  dollars  salary,  but  the  call  was 
accepted,  and  Mr.  Benedict  entered  at  once  on 
what  proved  to  be  his  life-work  in  New  York 
City.  He  was  a  man  full  of  faith,  and  richly  en- 
dued with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  his  faithful  labors^ 
both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  were  rewarded  with 
an  abundant  harvest.  The  church  was  blessed  under 
his  ministry  with  a  continual  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  large  accessions  to  its  membership. 

In  1841  the  church,  whose  house  of  worship  was 
no  longer  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  large 
congregations  that  assembled,  sent  out  its  first 
colony  to  establish  a  new  church  in  Norfolk  Street. 
Mr.  Benedict  elected  to  go  with  it,  and  there  this 
devoted  servant  of  God  finished  his  earthly  toil  for 
the  church  on  June  19,  1848,  and  on  October  28 
of  the  same  year  he  went  to  his  eternal  rest. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Benedict's  pastorate,  and 
largely  the  result  of  his  strenuous  efforts,  that  the 
house  of  worship  in  Stanton  Street  was  erected. 
The  church  had  for  two  years  occupied  the  small 
wooden  building  which  stood  first  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  Houston  (then  North)  and  Forsyth  Street, 
but  was  moved  afterward  to  the  opposite  side  of 
Houston  Street.  Subsequently  the  church  accepted 
the  invitation  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  then 
worshiping  on  the  corner  of  Chrystie  and  Delancy 
Streets,  to  meet   with  them  until  it  could  erect  a 


REV.  GEORGE  BENEDICT. 


STANTON   STREET   BAPTIST   CHURCH  43 

meeting-house.  The  first  steps  toward  the  building 
enterprise  were  taken  at  a  church  meeting  held  in 
December,  1822,  and  in  June,  1823,  the  lots  in  Stan- 
ton Street  were  secured.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
in  August  of  the  same  year ;  and  on  Sunday,  March 
23,  1824,  the  church  solemnly  dedicated  to  God  the 
meeting-house  that  was  to  be  its  sacred  religious 
home  for  fifty  years. 

After  Mr.  Benedict's  resignation  in  1841,  the 
church  was  without  a  pastor  for  several  months.  It 
then  extended  a  call  to  Rev.  David  Bellamy,  of 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and  he  entered  upon  his  pastoral  work 
in  September,  1841.  He  remained  five  years,  and 
baptized  three  hundred  and  nine  converts,  when  he 
tendered  his  resignation,  and  shortly  afterward  ac- 
cepted the  call  of  a  small  body  of  brethren  who  had 
withdrawn  from  the  parent  church  and  organized  a 
congregation  to  be  called  the  "  Hope  Chapel  Con- 
gregation.'^  On  Friday  evening,  November  27, 
1846,  a  committee  was  instructed  to  secure  the  Col- 
iseum, number  450  Broadway,  for  a  place  of  wor- 
ship, and  to  invite  Rev.  David  Bellamy  to  preach 
on  the  following  Sabbath.  On  Sabbath  evening, 
January  3,  1847,  an  invitation  was  given  to  all  who 
were  interested  in  Hope  Chapel  to  remain,  to  con- 
sider the  expediency  of  organizing  an  independent 
Baptist  church.  A  large  number  remained,  and  it 
was  unanimously  resolved  to  take  immediate  meas- 
ures to  form  such  an  organization.  Among  the 
leaders   at   the  time  were  W.  D.  Salisbury,  B.  S. 


44  KEMINISCENCES 

Squire,  M.  G.  Lane,  William  E.  Sibell,  D.  W.  Man- 
waring,  Henry  Estwick,  AVilliam  Conklin,  Abraham 
Fanning,  and  John  Fanning.  On  Sunday  evening, 
February  28,  1847,  the  organization  was  completed 
by  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  herein  and  hereby,  by  the  adoption  of 
this  resolution,  we  constitute  ourselves  into  an  inde- 
pendent Baptist  church,  by  the  name  of  the  Hope  Chapel 
Baptist  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

One  hundred  and  seven  names  were  attached  to 
this  resolution,  of  whom  very  fcAV,  if  any,  are  living. 
After  about  two  years  Mr.  Bellamy's  health  failed,  and 
he  retired  from  pastoral  work  He  was  succeeded  by 
John  Dowling,  d.  d.,  who  remained  pastor  until 
1852.  Rev.  A.  D.  Gillette  was  chosen  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Doctor  Dowling,  and  in  1852  the  name  of 
the  church  was  changed  to  that  of  the  Broadway  Bap- 
tist Church.  Doctor  Gillette  went  with  the  church  to 
West  Twenty-third  Street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Avenues,  when  the  name  was  again  changed  to  Cal- 
vary Baptist  Church,  which  name  it  still  retains. 

On  the  resignation  of  Doctor  Gillette  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  R.  J.  W.  Buckland,  and  upon  Doc- 
tor Buckland's  resignation  to  accept  a  professorship 
in  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  Calvary  Church 
called,  upon  his  graduation.  Rev.  Robert  Stuart 
MacArthur,  the  noble  man  and  able  preacher  who 
is  still  their  leader  and  spiritual  guide,  and  who,  in 
1895,  celebrated  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his 


STANTON   STREET   BAPTIST   CHURCH  45 

pastorate,  simultaneously  with  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  church.  In  1883,  the  church  removed 
from  West  Twenty-third  Street  into  their  present 
handsome  and  commodious  church.  West  Fifty- 
seventh  Street,  where,  on  special  occasions,  come  to- 
gether the  largest  assemblies  ever  gathered  in  a  New 
York  Baptist  church  since  Elder  Knapp  preached 
in  Mulberry  Street,  almost  sixty  years  ago. 

The  Stanton  Street  Church  has  been  called 
^'  Mother  of  Churches."  How  many  children  and 
grandchildren  she  can  lay  claim  to  I  do  not  know, 
but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  her  two  eldest  daughters 
(Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Calvary  churches),  do  no  dis- 
credit to  their  parentage.  After  Mr.  Bellamy's 
resignation,  the  church  called  Rev.  Stephen  Rem- 
ington, who  (like  Rev.  Thos.  Armitage,  Rev.  D. 
Henry  Miller,  and  many  others)  began  his  Christian 
career  as  a  Methodist.  Mr.  Remington  served  the 
church  faithfully  five  years  (baptizing  two  hundred 
and  eleven  persons),  when  he  resigned  to  become 
pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Philadelphia.  The 
writer  knew  him  well  as  a  devoted  Christian,  an 
earnest  and  able  preacher,  and  a  most  genial  and 
companionable  man.  He  went  to  his  rest  and  his 
reward  many  years  ago. 

The  church  then  called  their  next  pastor.  Rev. 
Edward  T.  Hiscox,  who  is  still  living  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three  years,  and  constantly  engaged  in  liter- 
ary work,  although  not  now  a  pastor.  He  served 
the  Stanton  Street  Church  thirteen  years,  and  bap- 


46  REMINISCENCES 

tized  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  persons.  Doc- 
tor Hiscox  is  a  recognized  authority  on  matters  of 
Baptist  polity,  and  has  published  many  works  of 
special  interest  to  Baptist  churches,  notably  "The 
Baptist  Church  Directory,"  a  guide  to  the  doctrines, 
discipline,  officers,  ordinances,  and  customs  of  Bap- 
tist churches,  a  new  edition  of  which  has  been  re- 
cently issued  from  the  press  of  the  American  Bap- 
tist Publication  Society.  In  1866  Doctor  Hiscox 
resigned  the  pastorate,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Christopher  Rhodes,  who  remained  eight  years,  and 
baptized  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  persons.  The 
church  then  called  Rev.  W.  H.  Leavell,  Avho  Avas 
succeeded  by  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Knapp.  About  this 
time  they  decided  to  change  their  location  to  what 
was  then  called  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  They 
worshiped  first  in  Association  Hall,  in  Twenty-third 
Street,  then  in  the  lecture  room  of  Doctor  Crosby's 
church,  corner  of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
second  Street,  and  again  in  Association  Hall.  While 
there  Pastor  Knapp's  health  failed  entirely,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  resign.  The  church  then  called 
Rev.  H.  O.  Hiscox  (a  son  of  Edward  T.  Hiscox, 
D.  D.).  Mr.  Hiscox  accepted  the  call  and  remained 
three  years,  during  which  he  baptized  thirty-four 
converts.  It  was  during  this  pastorate  that  the 
church  built  the  beautiful  little  house  of  worship 
on  the  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Lexing- 
ton Avenue.  Mr.  Hiscox  was  followed  by  Rev. 
L.   A.   Crandall,   d.  d.     The   church   was   greatly 


STANTON   STREET   BAPTIST   CHURCH  47 

strengthened  during  his  ministry  which  continued 
over  four  years,  in  which  time  he  baptized  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  converts. 

Doctor  Crandall  resigned  to  become  pastor  of  the 
Euclid  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Rev.  Thomas  Dixon  was  chosen  to  succeed  Doctor 
Crandall.  He  was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  church 
in  1889,  and  remained  six  years,  during  which  he 
baptized  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  persons. 
During  his  pastorate,  the  increase  of  the  congrega- 
tions was  so  great  that  it  became  necessary  to  go 
back  to  Association  Hall.  After  Mr.  Dixon's  res- 
ignation the  church  called  their  present  pastor, 
Rev.  Boardman  B.  Bosworth,  and  returned  to  their 
own  house  of  worship  on  the  corner  of  Twenty- 
third  Street  and  Lexington  Avenue.  Mr.  Bos- 
worth's  devotion  to  his  sacred  calling  soon  won  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  and  his  labor  among  them  has 
been  greatly  blessed  of  God. 

In  December,  1896,  the  church  sold  the  property 
on  Twenty-third  Street  for  one  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  on  Lord's  Day,  February  27, 
1897,  they  held  their  last  meeting  on  the  old  field, 
ending  their  work  there  by  observing  the  ordinances 
of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Removing  then  to  a  hall  in  the  United  Charities 
Building,  105  East  Twenty-second  Street,  they  main- 
tained public  worship  there  until  March  26,  1897, 
when  they  removed  to  their  present  field  on  West 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-ninth  Street,  under  the 


48  REMINISCENCES 

corporate  name  of  the  Washington  Heights  Baptist 
Church.  Thus  cometh  to  an  end  what  might  be 
called  Vol.  I.  of  the  history  of  the  Stanton  Street 
Baptist  Church,  a  down-town  church,  which  having 
borne  the  "banner  of  the  cross''  under  one  regi- 
mental flag  sixty-three  years,  now  begins  Vol.  II. 
on  a  new  field,  in  a  new  edifice,  with  new  hopes  and 
increased  numerical  strength,  consisting  in  part  of 
forty-three  members  received  from  the  disbanded 
Grace  Baptist  Church.  As  Vol.  I.  will  ever  be 
precious  as  a  gracious  record  of  faithful  labor 
crowned  with  abundant  evidences  of  divine  bless- 
ing, so  may  the  record  that  Vol.  II.  shall  bear,  by 
the  same  divine  favor,  be  made  still  more  glorious. 
The  present  membership  of  the  church  (1898)  is  two 
hundred  and  fifty-two. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   NORTH   BAPTIST  CHURCH 

rpHE  North  Baptist  Church,  located  on  Chris- 
-L  topher  Street,  corner  of  Bedford  Street,  was 
organized  in  1827.  Its  pastors  have  been  as  fol- 
lows :  Rev.  J.  W.  Gibbs  supplied  the  pulpit  one 
year.  The  church  then  called  Rev.  Jacob  H.  Brou- 
ner,  whose  pastorate  continued  a  little  over  twenty 
years,  when  he  was  suddenly  called  to  his  rest.  He 
was  a  man  of  simple  and  kindly  manners,  and 
greatly  beloved  both  for  his  own  and  his  work^s 
sake.  He  labored  faithfully  and  died  ^^with  the 
harness  on.^'  He  was  stricken  in  the  pulpit  on 
Sunday  morning,  September  9,  1848,  and  expired 
on  the  following  Tuesday  without  recovering  con- 
sciousness. After  Mr.  Brouner  the  church  was 
served  successively  by  Revs.  A.  C.  Wheat,  Aaron 
Jackson,  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  died  in  his 
study  chair  in  the  summer  of  1881. 

Rev.  Frank  Remington,  of  whom  it  was  said  he 
had  "gifts,  grace,  and  gumption,"  was  the  next 
pastor.  He  was  succeeded  by  Howard  Osgood, 
D.  D.,  a  ripe  scholar,  now  filling  a  professor's  chair 
in  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  an  able  preacher, 
a  most  genial  man,  and  the  readiest,  most  up-to-date 

D  49 


60  REMINISCENCES 

Sunday-school  superintendent  I  ever  knew.  I  saw 
him  in  that  position  in  the  Second  Baptist  Church, 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  only  half  an  hour  is  given  to 
the  study  of  the  lesson,  and  judge  from  Avhat  I  saw 
and  heard.  Perhaps  some  of  my  readers  do  not 
know  that  we  are  indebted  to  the  Episcopalians  for 
this  able,  sturdy,  and  always  courteous  Baptist,  but 
such  is  the  fact. 

Rev.  A.  Cleghorn  was  the  next  pastor.  On  en- 
tering his  pastoral  work  he  soon  found  himself  con- 
fronted with  a  difficult  problem,  which,  however,  he 
met  with  courage,  dealt  with  judiciously  but  firmly, 
and  by  the  help  of  God,  solved  successfully. 

He  found  a  strong  Sunday-school  organization 
claiming  an  independence  of  its  own,  separate  from 
the  church.  To  overthrow  this  vaunted  independ- 
ence and  to  make  the  Sunday-school  work  part  of 
the  church  work  and  subject  to  its  control,  was  the 
task  to  which  he  bent  the  force  and  fearlessness  of 
his  strong  character.  He  stirred  up  much  opposi- 
tion, but  the  church  stood  nobly  by  him.  Needed 
discipline  was  rigidly  enforced,  and  thus  where  a 
weaker  man  might  have  failed,  Mr.  Cleghorn  suc- 
ceeded. The  relations  of  the  Sunday-school  to  the 
church  were  finally  adjusted.  All  honor  to  the  man 
who  brought  it  to  pass  ! 

Mr.  Cleghorn  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  J. 
Brouner,  who  was  called  from  his  first  pastorate  of 
four  years  at  Staten  Island,  to  fill  the  pulpit  so  long 
occupied  by  his  revered  father.     The  church  was 


THE   NORTH   BAPTIST   CHURCH  51 

greatly  blessed  under  the  ministry  of  the  son,  as  it 
had  been  under  that  of  the  father.  A  large  congre- 
gation was  gathered,  outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
were  frequent,  and  the  church  grew  rapidly  in  lib- 
erality, influence,  and  numbers. 

On  January  7,  1877,  the  pastor  preached  a  jubilee 
sermon  from  Ps.  90  :  16,  17,  a  few  extracts  from 
which  cannot  fail  to  prove  interesting : 

The  site  of  the  first  meeting-house  on  Christopher 
Street  was  bought  for  three  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  pastor,  Elder  Brouner,  collected  the  greater 
part  of  the  money  and  worked  with  his  own  hands  on 
the  building.  At  length  the  foundation  was  laid  and  the 
walls  were  raised,  but  before  the  roof  could  be  put  on  the 
funds  gave  out,  and  it  seemed  that  the  work  must  cease. 
The  walls  were  braced,  and  passers-by  were  reminded  of 
the  Scripture  saying,  ' '  This  man  began  to  build,  but  was 
not  able  to  finish."  .  .  More  money  was  raised,  the 
building  was  enclosed,  and  the  eager  flock  entered  the 
yet  unfinished  house  with  its  unplastered  walls.  Tem- 
porary seats,  made  with  pine  slabs,  were  provided,  and 
on  November  14,  1836,  the  house  was  dedicated  to  the 
service  and  worship  of  God,  Doctor  Cone  preaching  in 
the  morning  and  Doctor  Maclay  in  the  afternoon. 

Elder  Jacob  H.  Brouner  served  as  pastor  twenty 
years  and  five  months,  during  which  time  he  bap- 
tized three  hundred  and  thirty-four  converts.  Rev. 
John  J.  Brouner  was  then  but  nine  years  of  age. 
Mr.  Brouner  remained  pastor  until  he  resigned  to 
become  secretary  of  the  Baptist  City  Mission  So- 
ciety.    He  left  the  church  in  an  excellent  condition. 


62  REMINISCENCES 

with  a  membership  of  three  hundred  and  nine.  A 
few  most  touching  words  from  Mr.  Brouner's  semi- 
centennial sermon  may  fittingly  complete  my  record 
of  the  North  Baptist  Church : 

I  came  to  you,  not  as  a  stranger,  but  as  your  loved 
pastor's  son,  and  as  one  whose  manner  of  living  from  my 
youth  up,  was  known  to  you.  It  was  to  the  Sunday- 
school  of  this  church  that  Christian  parents  led  my  in- 
fant steps.  Here,  in  boyhood  days,  I  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  God's  word.  Here,  in  my  early  youth,  the 
Holy  Spirit  opened  mine  eyes.  These  walls  echoed  the 
first  glad  songs  of  my  new-born  love,  as  I  rejoiced  in  the 
pardon  of  my  sins.  In  the  baptistery  of  this  church  I 
was  baptized.  In  its  pulpit  I  preached  my  first  sermon. 
By  your  vote  I  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  by  your  lib- 
erality I  was  educated.  In  this  house  I  knelt  to  receive 
the  laying-on  of  hands  in  ordination,  and  I  only  added 
another  to  the  cords  already  strong,  when  I  came  home 
to  be  your  pastor.  And  now,  looking  out  for  the  future, 
while  we  thank  God  for  all  that  is  past,  let  us  pray  as  did 
our  fathers:  ''Let  thy  work,  O  God,  appear  unto  thy 
servants,  and  thy  glory  to  their  children,  and  let  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us,  and  establish  the 
work  of  our  hands  upon  us.  Yea,  the  work  of  our  hands, 
establish  thou  it."     Amen. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   AMITY  *BAPTIST   CHURCH 

THE  Amity  Baptist  Church,  first  located  in 
Amity  Street,  was  formed  of  a  colony  from 
the  Oliver  Street  Church,  of  which  Rev.  John  Wil- 
liams, father  of  Dr.  W.  R.  Williams,  was  pastor  to 
the  time  of  his  death.  The  church  was  organized 
December  17,  1832,  and  on  the  same  day  Rev.  W. 
R.  Williams  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  and  in- 
stalled as  pastor.  Dr.  Francis  Wayland  preaching 
the  sermon.  Doctor  Williams'  pastorate  continued 
from  his  installation  until  May  1,  1885,  when  at 
the  age  of  eighty-one  he  was  called  to  his  heavenly 
rest.  As  preacher  in  Amity  Street  he  soon  gathered 
around  him  many  persons  of  cultured  intellect,  who 
afterward  became  prominent  in  business  and  pro- 
fessional life.  These  people,  who  from  change  of 
residence  or  other  cause,  sometimes  worshiped  with 
other  Baptist  churches,  never  removed  or  took  letters 
from  their  spiritual  birthplace. 

While  Doctor  Williams'  profound  and  accurate 
scholarship,  his  vast  acquaintance  with  books,  his 
seemingly  unlimited  knowledge  of  the  world,  his- 
tory, and  literature,  both  sacred  and  secular,  all  of 
which  was  ever  within  reach  of  his   phenomenal 

53 


54  REMINISCENCES 

memory,  his  fervent  spirit  and  creative  genius,  his 
pure  and  elegant  diction,  would  have  attracted  and 
delighted  thousands  of  listeners,  yet  he  was  so  limited 
by  the  feebleness  of  his  voice,  that  his  inimitable  ser- 
mons were  inaudible,  except  to  a  very  limited  con- 
gregation. Thus  he,  who  under  different  conditions 
might  have  drawn  audiences  as  large  as  the  Cooper 
Union  would  hold,  was  obliged  to  confine  his  ministra- 
tions within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  small  meeting- 
house, and  while  his  writings  had  secured  for  him  a 
world-wide  fame,  his  friends  and  fellow-citizens  at 
home  could  seldom  enjoy  his  ministrations.  Doctor 
Williams  was  modest  and  retiring,  almost  diffident 
in  his  manner,  seldom  making  himself  prominent  in 
public  meetings,  almost  never,  unless  called  out  from 
some  corner  in  which  he  had  quietly  seated  himself. 
Yet  there  were  times  when  his  spirit  was  so  deep- 
ly stirred  that  he  overcame  for  the  time  all  his  diffi- 
dence and  physical  weakness,  and  gave  utterance  to 
his  thoughts  in  words  that  could  be  heard  in  a  large 
assembly,  and  which  could  not  be  easily  forgotten. 
The  writer  remembers  one  or  two  such  occasions 
that  seem  worthy  of  record,  even  on  the  ground 
that  occasional  exceptions  serve  to  give,  by  contrast, 
greater  emphasis  to  one's  general  course  and  char- 
acter. The  first  instance  of  the  kind  that  I  re- 
member occurred  in  the  Oliver  Street  meeting-house, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  where 
and  when  the  policy  of  the  foreign  secretary  (Rev. 
Doctor  Peck)  was  fiercely  and  (as  Doctor  Williams 


THE    AMITY    BAPTIST    CHURCH  55 

and  many  others  thought)  unjustly  assailed  by  a 
number  of  delegates  present.  It  was  strongly  sus- 
pected that  the  head  and  front  of  the  secretary's 
offending  was  found,  not  so  much  in  his  administra- 
tion of  the  Society's  affairs  as  in  his  neglect  to  treat 
with  coveted  deference  the  large  number  of  callers 
(especially  of  ministerial)  who  felt  themselves  entitled 
to  more  consideration  than  he  had  time  to  bestow. 

Burning  with  indignation  at  this  injustice,  Doctor 
Williams  mounted  a  seat  in  the  middle  of  the  au- 
dience room,  and  poured  forth  one  of  those  wither- 
ing pieces  of  elegant  sarcasm  of  which  he  was  per- 
fect master.  He  pictured  two  courtiers  riding 
together,  engaged  in  friendly  chat.  One  of  them, 
entirely  destitute  of  personal  merit,  and  possessed 
of  no  marked  ability,  either  as  statesman  or  civilian, 
had  nevertheless  got  to  the  front,  and  basked  con- 
tinually in  the  sunshine  of  popular  favor.  His 
friend,  well  knowing  the  shallowness  of  which  the 
popular  man  himself  was  not  wholly  unconscious, 
asked  him  how  he  managed  to  retain  his  popularity. 

^^  Oh,''  was  the  reply,  "  I  have  a  large  bill  at  my 
hatter's."  "  A  large  bill  at  your  hatter's  ?  What 
has  that  to  do  with  it?''  was  the  next  query.  "Just 
this.  I  always  take  off  my  hat  to  every  man  that 
looks  at  me  on  the  street,"  was  the  reply.  "  J/r. 
3Ioderator,'^  said  Doctor  Williams,  addressing  the 
chair,  and  raising  his  voice  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
"  Mr.  Moderator,  our  secretary  is  a  poor  man. 
He  can't  afford  to  wear  out  so  many  hats." 


66  KEMINISCENCES 

The  effect  on  the  audience  was  electrical.  Doc- 
tor Williams  took  his  seat  amid  a  great  sensation, 
and  the  foreign  secretary  of  the  Missionary  Union 
was  re-elected  without  a  dissenting  voice. 

Doctor  Williams  was  a  man  of  study  and  reflec- 
tion, rather  than  of  aggressive  action,  and  certainly 
gave  no  evidence  of  a  disposition  to  belligerency ; 
but  he  held  a  powerful  lance,  and  if  forced  into  a 
conflict,  the  above  example  will  serve  to  show  that 
he  who  would  become  his  antagonist  had  better 
make  sure  of  his  position  and  stand  well  to  his 
arms. 

Another  instance  occurs  to  my  recollection,  in 
which  Doctor  Williams'  skillful  use  of  sarcasm  was 
very  effective.  It  happened  in  the  Old  Tabernacle 
Church,  in  Mulberry  Street.  Some  brethren  had 
conceived  the  idea  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
unite  all  the  Baptist  churches  in  the  city  in  one  ex- 
clusive Association,  and  had  called  a  public  meeting 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  their  project  popularly 
endorsed. 

As  was  natural,  the  discussion  turned  on  the  dan- 
ger to  be  apprehended  from  centralized  power,  which 
some  thought  not  worth  considering  in  comparison 
with  the  manifest  advantages  to  accrue. 

Doctor  Williams  took  a  very  different  view,  con- 
tending that  such  centralization  of  power  was  fraught 
with  the  direst  evils.  He  contended  that  power  so 
held  was  not  only  dangerous,  but  fatal  to  human 
liberty.     He  likened  it  to  an  untamable  brute. 


THE   AMITY   BAPTIST   CHURCH  57 

"Sir,"  said  he,  addressing  the  chairman  of  the  meet- 
ing, "the  hyena  is  neither  to  be  tamed  nor  trusted.  You 
may  attempt  to  teach  him  better  manners,  but  he  is  a 
hyena  still,  unchanged  and  unchangeable.  Sir,  you 
might  even  put  him  through  a  theological  institution, 
and  when  he  came  out,  I  would  not  trust  him  by  the 
grave  of  my  grandfather." 

The  project  failed,  and  the  meeting  adjourned 
sine  die. 

After  Doctor  Williams'  death  the  church  remained 
without  a  pastor  until  the  latter  part  of  January, 
1887,  when  it  extended  a  call  to  Leighton  Williams, 
Esq.,  the  elder  son  of  Dr.  William  R.  Williams. 
Mr.  Williams  accepted  the  call,  giving  up  a  suc- 
cessful legal  practice  in  order  to  do  so,  and  the 
church  at  once  called  a  council  of  churches  to  advise 
as  to  the  propriety  of  ordaining  him  to  the  work  of 
the  gospel  ministry.  This  council  met  on  January 
28,  1887,  and  pursuant  to  its  recommendation,  Mr. 
Williams  was  ordained  on  Lord's  Day,  May  8,  1887, 
in  the  chapel  of  the  church,  Dr.  H.  L.  Wayland 
preaching  the  sermon. 

Extensive  and  commodious  buildings  have  been 
erected  on  lots  long  owned  by  the  church  on  West 
Fifty-fourth  Street,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Ave- 
nues, where,  in  addition  to  the  regular  church  work 
of  preaching  the  gospel  to  adults  and  children,  and 
striving  to  win  souls  for  Christ,  a  large  benevolent 
work  is  being  prosecuted  under  the  general  super- 
intendence of  the  indefatigable  pastor,  in  which  he 


58  REMINISCENCES 

was  largely  and  gratuitously  aided  by  George  W. 
Samson,  d.  d.,  until  his  death,  and  is  still  efficiently 
aided  by  his  brother,  Mornay  Williams,  Esq.  In 
1897  the  church  reported  a  membership  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six.  It  withdrew  from  the  Associ- 
ation previous  to  the  session  of  1898. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SIXTEENTH    BAPTIST    CHURCH 

THIS  church  was  organized  in  1833,  in  West  Six- 
teenth Street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth 
Avenues.  Before  it  was  organized  as  a  church, 
Brethren  Samuel  P.  White,  John  Day,  John  Hal- 
stead,  and  a  few  others,  held  meetings  in  the  house 
of  Brother  Day,  411  West  Eighteenth  Street.  This 
soon  became  too  small  for  their  needs,  and  a  frame 
building,  twenty  by  fifty  feet,  was  erected  in  Eigh- 
teenth Street  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues. 
This  could  not  have  been  done  but  for  the  self- 
sacrificing  spirit  of  Deacon  Halstead.  He  had  a 
hardware  store  on  Eighth  Avenue,  from  which  he 
furnished  such  building  hardware  as  was  required ; 
and  when  the  builder  notified  him  that  the  work 
must  stop  unless  more  money  was  forthcoming,  his 
reply  was,  ^^  I  have  no  money,  but  I  have  goods. 
Send  your  wagon  up  to  my  store  and  help  your- 
selves." 

The  present  meeting-house  was  erected  in  1833, 
and  the  first  preacher  to  occupy  its  pulpit  was  Elder 
David  Bernard,  who  served  the  church  from  Oc- 
tober, 1833,  to  May,  1834.  He  was  followed  by 
Rev.  James  L.  Hodge,  whose  pastorate  ended  Jan- 

59 


60  EEMINISCENCES 

uary  24,  1835,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  call 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Albany.  Doctor 
Hodge  is  still  living,  but  retired  many  years  ago. 
After  leaving  Albany,  he  served  successfully  the 
First  Church,  Brooklyn,  the  First  Church  in  East 
New  York,  and  the  Mariner's  Temple  Baptist 
Church  of  this  city.  He  was  an  able  preacher,  tender 
and  sympathetic. 

Doctor  Hodge  was  followed  in  the  Sixteenth 
Church  by  Rev.  Jay  S.  Backus,  who  remained  from 
September,  1839,  to  August,  1840.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded a  month  later  by  Rev.  Alonzo  Wheelock, 
who  served  the  church  seven  years.  Doctor  Wheel- 
ock was  a  controversialist,  and  published  a  discourse 
containing  his  views  on  sacrifice  and  atonement,  con- 
tending that  while  the  sacrifice  which  procured  the 
atonement  was  made  on  the  cross,  the  atonement 
was  made  in  heaven.  His  views  were  challenged 
and  ably  replied  to  by  Mrs.  A.  C.  Putnam,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Macdougal  Street  Baptist  Church. 

The  next  pastor  was  Rev.  Joseph  W.  Taggart^ 
who  served  the  church  nine  years,  and  was  followed 
by  Rev.  William  S.  Mikels  in  a  pastorate  of  sixteen 
years.  Rev.  David  B.  Jutten  was  the  next  pastor. 
He  served  ten  years,  and  then  resigned  to  accept  a 
call  from  a  church  in  Boston.  The  next  pastor  was 
Rev.  Matthew  H.  Pogson,  who  is  now  the  secretary 
and  manager  of  the  "  Baptist  Ministers'  Home  "  at 
West  Farms.  Rev.  A.  W.  Hodder,  the  present 
pastor,  entered  on  his  pastorate  in  1892.     His  sue- 


SIXTEENTH    BAPTIST   CHURCH  61 

cess  as  a  pastor  and  a  leader  in  the  "  Christian  En- 
deavor ^'  work  is  well  known. 

Broome  Street  Baptist  Church.  A  Baptist  church 
in  Broome  Street,  a  few  blocks  from  the  East  River, 
was  incorporated  May  6,  1834,  under  the  name  of 
the  Broome  Street  Baptist  Church.  On  October  30, 
1834,  its  name  was  changed  to  the  East  Baptist 
Church,  and  on  October  31,  1838,  it  adopted  the 
name  of  the  East  Broome  Street  Baptist  Church.  On 
August  10,  1840,  a  new  house  of  worship  in  Can- 
non Street  having  been  erected,  the  corporate  name 
was  again  changed,  and  that  of  the  Cannon  Street 
Baptist  Church  was  taken.  The  pastors  that  I 
remember  as  settled  in  these  several  churches,  or 
one  church  with  several  names,  were  Revs.  Zelotes 
Grenell,  Joseph  Barnard,  D.  d.,  Henry  Davis,  D.  D., 
H.  J.  Eddy,  d.  d.,  and  Wm.  Pendleton,  d.  d.  It 
w^as  during  Mr.  GrenelPs  pastorate,  and  largely 
through  his  efforts,  that  the  new  house  in  Cannon 
Street  was  completed. 

Mr.  Grenell  had  received  neither  a  classical  nor 
a  theological  education,  except  as  he  obtained  the 
latter  from  the  Bible,  and  I  have  heard  him  say 
that  he  laid  many  a  rod  of  stone  wall  after  he  was 
ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry ;  yet  it  will 
readily  be  conceded  by  those  who  have  heard  him, 
that  in  his  day  there  were  few  abler  preachers  than 
he. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   TABERNACLE    CHURCH 

THE  Tabernacle  Baptist  Church  had  its  first 
home  in  Mulberry  Street,  near  Chatham. 
The  following  are  the  circumstances  that  in  1839 
led  to  its  organization  as  a  new  church  : 

The  meeting-house  was  encumbered  w^ith  a  mort- 
gage of  eleven  thousand  dollars,  and  liable  to  fore- 
closure. It  was  understood  that  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics stood  ready  to  purchase  it  for  a  church  of  their 
own  faith,  when,  at  the  earnest  suggestion  of  Dea- 
con William  Colgate,  the  Oliver  Street  Church  made 
overtures  to  the  brethren  in  Mulberry  Street,  which 
resulted  in  an  amicable  arrangement.  The  condi- 
tions of  this  were  that  the  former  church  should  pay 
the  mortgage  and  become  owner  of  the  property. 
The  Oliver  Street  Church  then  appropriated  an  ad- 
ditional thousand  dollars  to  put  the  building  in 
thorough  repair  and  make  it  attractive  for  public 
worship.  They  appointed  a  committee  to  shape  and 
carry  out  its  plan,  and  also  to  conduct  religious  serv- 
ices in  the  renovated  house  when  the  contemplated 
improvements  should  be  completed.  The  committee 
consisted  of  deacons  William  Colgate,  Joshua  Gil- 
bert, Eliakim  Raymond,  William  D.  Murphy,  and 
62 


THE   TABERNACLE   CHURCH  63 

several  others.  A  re-union  had  already  been 
brought  about  between  the  West  Baptist  Church 
(until  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  John 
Dowling)  and  the  parent  body  in  Mulberry  Street. 
In  the  meantime  the  appropriation  of  one  thousand 
dollars  had  been  so  judiciously  and  tastefully  ex- 
pended that  the  renovated  meeting-house  might  well 
have  been  pronounced  ^^A  thing  of  beauty,"  but 
alas  !  not  '^  a  joy  forever." 

Other  Baptist  churches — being  without  meeting- 
houses or  without  pastors — were  invited  to  cast  in 
their  lot  with  the  new  enterprise,  and  the  Tabernacle 
Baptist  Church  was  successfully  launched  on  a  long 
career  of  usefulness.  Would  that  it  had  proved  a 
perpetual  one,  but  alas  !  The  committee  then  in- 
vited Rev.  Beniah  Hoe,  formerly  of  England,  to 
become  the  preacher  for  nine  months,  or  until  the 
new  church  should  have  time  to  elect  its  own  pastor. 
This  matter  of  choosing  a  pastor  was  the  cause  of 
some  little  feeling  for  a  while.  Some  of  the  most 
influential  of  the  committee  wished  to  retain  Rev. 
B.  Hoe,  while  many  of  the  former  members  of  the 
West  Church  (which  was  now  a  majority  of  the 
whole)  desired  to  call  their  old  pastor.  Doctor  Dow- 
ling. Happily,  this  feeling  soon  subsided,  and  the 
church  cordially  united  in  calling  Rev.  William  W. 
Everts,  who  was  then  within  a  month  of  graduating 
at  Hamilton. 

Several  able  preachers  supplied  the  pulpit  while 
the  youthful  pastor-elect   went  back  to  his  Alma 


64  REMINISCENCES 

Mater  for  graduation,  and  when  he  entered  fully 
upon  his  ministry  all  hearts  turned  warmly  to  him. 
A  little  prior  to  this  time  Elder  Jacob  Knapp  had 
inaugurated,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  that  aston- 
ishing series  of  evangelistic  meetings  which,  being 
crowned  by  divine  power,  were  followed  by  such 
large  ingatherings  of  souls  that  the  report  of  them 
flashed  like  electricity,  not  only  over  the  city  in 
which  they  occurred,  but  over  the  entire  country. 
Deacon  \yilliam  Colgate,  of  the  Tabernacle  Church, 
had  been  present  at  some  of  these  meetings,  and  was 
so  impressed  with  the  manifestations  of  the  divine 
presence  that,  at  his  suggestion,  the  Tabernacle 
Church  sent  an  invitation  to  Elder  Knapp  to  spend 
a  few  weeks  with  it  in  holding  similar  meetings. 

After  Elder  Knapp  had  spent  some  weeks  in  Al- 
bany, the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  a  series  of 
meetings  followed,  which  lasted  nine  consecutive 
weeks,  and  were  truly  wonderful  for  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  presence  and  power.  Hundreds 
upon  hundreds  were  converted  and  baptized  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  church,  while  hundreds  more  united 
with  other  churches.  True,  there  were  "  many  ad- 
versaries,''  and  also  many  deliverances,  for  Satan 
seemed  to  "  come  down  with  great  power,''  as  if  "  be- 
lieving he  had  but  a  short  time  "  ;  but  God  shielded 
and  protected  his  faithful,  fearless  servant  here,  as 
he  had  done  elsewhere,  so  that  not  a  single  weapon 
which  was  formed  against  him — and  there  were 
many — was  suffered  to  prosper. 


THE   TABERNACLE   CHURCH  65 

Not  a  single  shaft  can  hit, 
Till  the  God  of  love  sees  fit. 

It  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  describe  Elder 
Knapp  as  a  preacher,  yet,  in  some  respects  at  least, 
it  is  safe  to  say  we  have  not  seen  his  counterpart. 
While  his  dark-browed  countenance  bore  an  aspect 
of  severity,  it  could  not  fail  to  impress  the  careful 
observer  with  the  fact  that  it  also  expressed  the  true 
dignity  of  one  who  is  conscious  that  he  bears  a  mes- 
sage from  God.  As  a  reasoner,  he  was  candid  and 
sincere,  and  if  his  manner  was  sometimes  almost 
savage,  his  logic  was  irresistible  to  a  candid  mind. 
He  dealt  his  blows  against  all  sin  and  all  infidelity 
as  with  a  sledge-hammer.  His  pet  antagonism  was 
Universalism,  and  so  destructive  were  the  strokes 
he  aimed  at  it,  that  the  bold  Universalism  of  that 
day  seems  nowhere  to  be  found.  Restorationists 
there  are,  and  they  are  numerous  ;  but  Universalists 
of  the  Hosea  Ballon  type  do  not  exist  among  rea- 
soning men.  It  will  be  said  that  ^^  Elder  Knapp 
sometimes  used  rough  language  and  was  not  at  all 
polite.  He  stirred  up  a  bitter  hatred  in  the  breasts 
of  many  who  went  every  night  to  hear  him.'^  True  ; 
but  still  they  went,  and  he  boldly  defied  them  to 
stay  away.  He  knew  that  they  went  for  chaif,  not 
wheat,  and  he  always  had  a  bag  of  it  with  which  to 
supply  them.  Peradventure,  they  might  occasion- 
ally receive  a  grain  of  wheat. 

Again,  it  was  objected  that,  "  Instead  of  being 
always  grave  and  sedate,  as  becomes  a  minister  of 


66  REMINISCENCES 

the  gospel,  he  made  his  audience  laugh/'  This  is 
also  true.  The  elder  had  the  ability  to  make  the 
entire  congregation  laugh  whenever  he  pleased ;  but 
he  never  exercised  the  gift  except  for  a  purpose, 
which  he  immediately  made  to  appear,  and  always 
checked  the  demonstration  wlien  the  object  was 
gained.  Some  of  his  modern  imitators  can  evoke 
laughter,  and  keep  their  congregations  in  a  titter 
through  half  their  discourses ;  but  Elder  Knapp 
could  do  what  few  can  do.  He  could  raise  a  finger 
and  the  entire  congregation  would  be  as  quiet  as  the 
grave,  while  he  made  the  application  he  desired. 

The  winter  of  1840,  when  these  meetings  were 
held,  was  the  third  of  those  disastrous  years  which 
commenced  with  1837.  All  earthly  supports  seemed 
to  have  given  way,  and  many  persons  who  in  sea- 
sons of  worldly  prosperity  might  have  gone  on, 
Gallio-like,  "  caring  for  none  of  these  things,''  now 
had  their  hearts  solemnized  and  their  thoughts  di- 
rected to  the  worth  of  their  souls.  This,  and  the 
general  lack  of  employment,  doubtless  contributed  to 
increase  the  religious  congregations,  not  only  in 
Mulberry  Street,  but  all  over  our  city,  and  indeed 
throughout  the  land.  It  Avas  in  Mulberry  Street, 
however,  that  the  interest  of  our  city  churches  cen- 
tered, and  as  this  was  the  church-home  of  the  writer, 
he  w^as  able  to  attend  every  meeting,  and  thus  re- 
cords what  he  saw  and  heard. 

Every  week  large  numbers  were  immersed  either 
in  the  baptistery  or  frequently  in  the  Hudson  River, 


THE   TABERNACLE   CHURCH  67 

near  the  New  Jersey  shore.  Elder  Knapp  always 
assisted  the  pastor  in  the  administration.  Some  of  the 
newspapers  of  the  day,  conspicuously  the  ^^New  York 
Herald,"  which  was  not  the  respectable  sheet  it  is 
to-day,  took  delight  in  holding  these  immersions  up 
to  ridicule,  often  publishing  caricatures  of  the  sub- 
jects and  the  administrators.  All  this  advertised 
the  Tabernacle  meetings,  increased  the  congrega- 
tion, and  promoted,  rather  than  hindered,  the  glori- 
ous work  that  was  being  carried  on,  showing  how 
abundantly  God  can  "  cause  the  wrath  of  man  to 
praise  him." 

Not  less  interesting  were  the  occasions  on  which 
those  who  had  been  baptized  were  publicly  received 
into  the  church.  At  such  times  the  persons  to 
whom  the  hand  of  fellowship  was  to  be  extended, 
were  at  the  entrance  of  the  pews  on  each  side  of 
every  aisle  of  the  church  edifice,  from  wall  to  wall, 
a  sight  not  to  be  forgotten.  People  cried,  "  Won- 
derful excitement ! "  "  They  are  frightened  into 
religion  ! "  ^'  How  long  will  they  hold  out  ? " 
Doubtless  there  was  some  chaff  with  the  wheat. 
Some  stony  ground  and  some  wayside  hearers  are 
found  among  those  supposed  genuine  converts  gath- 
ered into  the  most  careful  and  conservative  churches 
and  in  seasons  that  none  would  think  of  calling  "  times 
of  excitement."  Doubtless  there  were  some  self- 
deceived  persons  brought  into  the  Tabernacle  Church 
during  this  great  and  blessed  revival  of  religion — 
perhaps  even  hypocrites ;  but  those  who  were  mem- 


68  REMINISCENCES 

bers  of  or  familiar  with  the  subsequent  history  of 
that  church,  as  the  writer  was  from  1839  to  1851, 
can  testify  not  only  to  the  general  good  deportment 
of  those  remaining  in  the  city,  but  also  to  continual 
reports  that  came  from  all  parts  of  our  land  of  Sun- 
day-schools started  and  churches  founded  by  those 
who  were  converted  in  the  Tabernacle  Church 
during  the  great  revival. 

To  continue  the  history  of  the  church.  The 
youthful  pastor,  Mr.  Everts,  was  constantly  de- 
nouncing every  form  of  evil,  not  only  intemperance, 
rumselling,  and  other  sins  known  to  exist  among 
us,  but  especially  the  sin  of  slaveholding,  with 
which  many  influential  members  of  the  church 
thought,  "  We  of  the  North  have  nothing  to  do." 
The  relations  between  these  and  the  pastor  became 
more  and  more  strained  and  uncomfortable,  until 
about  the  close  of  1842  or  the  beginning  of  1843, 
when  the  latter  resigned  his  pastorate  and  took 
charge  of  the  newly  organized  church  in  Laight 
Street,  corner  of  Varick.  He  occupied  the  same 
meeting-house  in  which  Rev.  Hanson  S.  Cox  had 
preached,  and  from  which  he  had  uttered  such  phil- 
ippics against  the  whole  slaveholding  system  as 
caused  him  to  be  mobbed  and  literally  driven  from 
the  city.  This  edifice  had  been  purchased  for  Bap- 
tist uses  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Everts 
while  he  remained  in  Mulberry  Street. 

A  year  or  two  after  Mr.  Everts^  resignation  had 
been  accepted,  the  Tabernacle  Church  extended  a 


THE   TABERNACLE   CHURCH  69 

call  to  Eev.  Edward  Lathrop,  of  Beaufort,  S.  C, 
where  he  had  been  assistant  or  associate  pastor  with 
the  eloquent  and  popular  Richard  Fuller,  d.  d. 
The  call  was  accepted,  and  Mr.  Lathrop  entered 
upon  his  pastorate  January  1,  1844.  A  few  years 
older  than  Mr.  Everts  had  been  when  the  latter 
entered  upon  pastoral  work,  Mr.  Lathrop  brought 
with  him  some  years  of  experience,  and  although  of 
warm  temperament,  he  was  less  impulsive  than  his 
youthful  predecessor.  A  Southerner  by  birth  and 
education,  slavery  and  slaveholding  could  never 
look  to  him  as  they  had  appeared  to  Mr.  Everts. 
He  had  therefore  little  or  nothing  to  say  in  his 
pulpit  about  the  "peculiar  institutions'^  of  the 
South.  He  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  his  work 
as  preacher  and  pastor,  and  soon  made  himself  be- 
loved by  the  church  and  congregation.  Shortly 
after  his  coming  to  the  city  his  work  was  inter- 
rupted by  a  severe  illness,  and  for  a  long  time  his 
life  was  despaired  of.  When  sufficiently  recovered 
to  be  removed,  he  went  to  Massachusetts  to  recu- 
perate, but  it  was  many  months  before  he  returned  to 
his  pulpit.  Meantime,  the  pastoral  duties  of  the 
church  were  faithfully  performed  by  Rev.  George 
Hatt,  a  godly  man,  whose  ministrations  are  held  in 
grateful  remembrance  by  the  older  members  of  our 
city  churches. 

Dr.  Lathrop's  ministry  continued  in  Mulberry 
Street  until  December,  1850,  when  the  church  re- 
moved to  the  beautiful  new  edifice — sadly  marred 


70  REMINISCENCES 

since  then  by  alterations  and  additions — in  Second 
Avenue,  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Streets. 

The  dedicatory  sermon  was  preached  by  the 
pastor,  December  22,  1850,  from  Acts  8  :  5-8. 
Subject,  "Cities  in  their  Relation  to  the  World^s 
Evangelization.^'  It  was  an  interesting  and  very 
able  discourse,  to  which  the  writer  listened  with 
great  pleasure. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  proper  to  write  of  the  preaching 
of  one  who  is  yet  with  us ;  if  it  is,  that  of  Doctor 
Lathrop  should  be  described  as  marked  by  two  char- 
acteristics— its  uniformly  evangelical  character  and 
its  clearness  of  statement,  which  made  his  subject  as 
plain  to  the  attentive  listener  as  it  was  in  his  own 
mind.  Doctor  Lathrop  served  the  church  faithfully 
and  Avith  great  acceptance  for  twenty-six  years,  six 
of  them  in  Mulberry  Street  and  twenty  in  Second 
Avenue.  Finding  that  the  care  of  a  large  city 
church  was  seriously  impairing  his  health,  he  re- 
signed to  become  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
of  Stamford,  Conn.  With  this  church  he  closed  his 
public  ministry  in  1886,  and  soon  afterward  came 
to  reside  in  this  city.  Complete  relief  from  public 
duties  and  abundant  leisure  seem  to  have  caused 
a  renewal  of  youth.  May  his  genial  presence  long 
abide  with  us. 

After  Doctor  Lathrop' s  resignation,  the  pulpit  of 
the  Tabernacle  Church  was  supplied  for  six  months 
by  J.  S.  Holme,  d.  d.  The  next  pastor  was  J.  R. 
Kendrick,  D.  D.,  who  was  followed  by  Rev.  Doc- 


THE    TABERNACLE    CHURCH  71 

tors  Wayland  Hoyt,  Robert  B.  Hull,  and  Daniel  C. 
Potter.  The  church  edifice  and  other  property  for- 
merly held  by  the  church,  is  now  in  possession  of 
the  City  Baptist  Mission  Society,  by  virtue  of  a  fore- 
closure of  a  mortgage  thereon.  Doctor  Potter,  and 
such  of  the  church  and  congregation  as  affiliate  with 
him,  meet  elsewhere.^  A  new  church  has  just  been 
planted  in  the  old  field,  and  is  greatly  prospering 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Francis,  for- 
merly pastor  of  the  Riverside  Church. 

The  writer's  membership  in  the  Tabernacle 
Church  ceased  with  his  letter  of  dismissal  to  unite 
with  the  Norfolk  Street  Baptist  Church,  where  he 
received  the  hand  of  fellowship  on  the  first  Sunday 
in  July,  1851.  In  1897  the  Tabernacle  Church 
reported  a  membership  of  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  persons.  In  1898  it  ceased  to  be  a  member 
of  the  Association. 

^  Doctor  Potter  and  the  Tabernacle  Church  ceased  to  be- 
long to  the  Southern  New  York  Association  before  the  close 
of  the  session  of  1898. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   NORFOLK    STREET   CHURCH 

(now  fifth  avenue) 

IT  has  already  been  noted  that  in  1841  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  members  of  the  Stanton 
Street  Church,  under  the  leadership  of  their  pastor, 
Rev.  George  Benedict,  took  letters  of  dismission  to 
form  a  new  Baptist  church  in  Norfolk  Street.  On 
February  15,  of  the  same  year,  a  council  of  dele- 
gates from  sister  churches  publicly  recognized  these 
brethren  and  sisters  as  a  regular  Baptist  church,  in 
a  series  of  exercises  in  which  the  moderator  of  the 
council,  Rev.  Spencer  H.  Cone,  preached  from  Rev. 
2  :  2,  "The  seven  golden  candlesticks."  Rev.  Silas 
Illsley,  then  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
Brooklyn,  extended  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  the 
new  church,  and  Rev.  Charles  G.  Somers  gave  the 
charge  and  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  the  pastor. 
The  new  church  purchased  the  meeting-house  then 
standing  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Norfolk 
Streets,  formerly  occupied  by  a  congregation  under 
the  care  of  Elder  Isaac  N.  AA^alter,  known  as  the 
Christian  Church,  for  the  sum  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  and  assumed  the  name  of  the  Norfolk  Street 
Baptist  Church. 

72 


THE    NORFOLK    STREET    CHURCH  73 

The  same  rich  showers  of  divine  blessing  that 
distinguished  Mr.  Benedict's  ministry  in  Stanton 
Street  continued  with  him  on  his  new  field  of  labor, 
and  from  1841  to  1846  there  were  few  months  that 
did  not  bring  accessions  to  the  church.  In  that 
year,  however,  his  health  began  to  decline,  and  a 
little  more  than  a  year  later  it  became  evident  to  all 
that  this  devoted  servant  of  God  had  well-nigh  fin- 
ished his  earthly  course.  A  season  of  rest  had  been 
tried  in  vain,  and  the  best  medical  skill  proved 
equally  unavailing  to  recuperate  his  exhausted 
strength.  Under  these  circumstances  it  became  evi- 
dent that  the  beloved  pastor  must  immediately  be 
relieved  of  all  active  labor,  and  that  it  would  soon 
become  imperative  to  choose  a  successor. 

The  following  extracts  relating  to  the  closing 
events  in  Mr.  Benedict's  life  and  his  own  call  to 
become  his  successor  are  from  Doctor  Armitage's 
history  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church: 

On  June  12,  1848,  a  new  trial  was  added  in  the  loss  of 
the  meeting-house  by  fire.  These  thickening  troubles 
seemed  for  a  time  not  only  to  threaten  but  to  overwhelm 
both  the  pastor  and  the  church.  Finally,  after  much 
prayer,  and  the  persuasion  that  his  work  was  ended  and 
his  life  must  soon  close,  he  reached  the  conclusion  (alike 
sad  to  himself  and  to  his  flock)  that  duty  called  him  to 
retire  from  the  pastorate.  The  church  meeting  held 
June  19,  1848,  was  the  last  at  which  he  was  present  to 
preside  over  and  otherwise  aid  the  church  in  its  delibera- 
tions. .  .  His  flock  loved  and  revered  him  as  a  father, 
for  most  of  them  had  been  brought  to  Christ  under  his 


74  REMINISCENCES 

ministry  ;  they  had  seen  the  meekness  and  fortitude  with 
which  he  had  borne  his  trials  and  suffering,  and  they  felt 
much  as  we  suppose  the  Ephesian  believers  felt  when  the 
Apostle  Paul  notified  them  that  "  they  would  see  his  face 
no  more. ' ' 

Under  these  circumstances  the  affectionate  but  en- 
feebled pastor  pressed  upon  his  people  the  necessity  of 
relieving  him  from  all  furtiier  service  and  care  ;  exhorted 
them  to  new  courage,  notwithstanding  the  sorrows  that 
had  overtaken  them,  and  with  tears  urged  upon  them 
the  necessity  of  unity  among  themselves,  and  the  imme- 
diate settlement  of  some  irritating  difficulties  then  exist- 
ing in  the  body.  Then  he  tendered  his  resignation  as 
pastor,  earnestly  urging  its  acceptance  with  entire  una- 
nimity on  their  part,  and  begging  that  he  might  be  al- 
lowed to  name  his  successor. 

After  careful  consideration  and  lengthened  con- 
ference his  devout  wish  to  be  released  from  labor 
was  unanimously  acceded  to,  and  his  successor  was 
at  the  same  time  unanimously  chosen  to  stand  in  his 
place.  This  noble  servant  of  God  then  retired  to 
his  home  to  die,  full  of  hope,  full  of  light,  and  full 
of  love.  Patiently  and  in  great  suffering  he  awaited 
the  coming  of  his  Lord,  and  on  October  28,  1848, 
the  faithful  ambassador  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  His 
remains  rest  in  Greenwood,  and  there  are  many  per- 
sons in  our  churches  in  this  vicinity  who  justly  hold 
his  memory  in  tender  sacredness  to  this  day. 

On  June  20,  1848,  Hon.  George  H.  Andrews,  as 
chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  church  to 
inform  the  pastor-elect  of  its  action,  submitted  a 
unanimous  call  to  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,  of  Albany, 


THE    NORFOLK    STREET    CHURCH  75 

N.  Y.,  which  was  promptly  accepted.  In  all  likeli- 
hood this  invitation  would  have  been  as  promptly 
declined  but  for  the  appeal  which  Mr.  Benedict 
made  to  him  shortly  before,  to  the  effect  that  if  the 
call  were  declined  he  should  regard  the  declination 
as  most  painful  to  himself,  for  he  had  seen  no  one 
else  to  whose  care  he  desired  to  leave  his  sacred 
charge.  This  appeal,  enforced  by  the  advice  of 
Dr.  B.  T.  Welch,  of  Albany,  and  the  consideration 
that  the  church  was  in  deep  distress  and  in  a  sense 
homeless,  decided  the  matter. 

The  call  was  accepted  on  the  following  terms : 

First.  That  the  salary  of  the  pastor  was  to  be  twelve 
hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

Second.     That  the  engagement  was  for  one  year. 

Third.  That  the  connection  should  not  be  dissolved 
at  the  expiration  of  one  year,  or  at  any  time  thereafter, 
by  either  party,  without  giving  the  other  three  months' 
notice. 

The  new  pastor  of  the  Norfolk  Street  Church 
entered  upon  his  work  July  1,  1848. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

REV.  THOMAS  ARMITAGE 

AS  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage  has  been  destined  to 
occupy  a  prominent  place,  both  as  a  preacher 
and  a  leader  among  our  people,  a  brief  recital  of 
some  of  the  salient  points  in  his  early  life,  as  learned 
from  himself  by  the  writer,  who  had  intimate  official 
relations  with  him  for  more  than  forty  years,  may 
perhaps  be  admissible. 

Thomas  Armitage  was  born  in  England,  in  the 
county  of  Yorkshire,  in  1819.  When  twelve  years 
of  age  he  gave  his  heart  to  God  in  a  AYesleyan 
Methodist  church.  When  he  was  fifteen  years  old, 
in  accordance  with  a  custom  then  prevalent  in  Meth- 
odist churches  in  England,  he  was  sent  in  company 
with  some  mature  and  experienced  brother  to  vari- 
ous Methodist  out-stations,  to  exercise  his  gifts  in 
public  speaking.  These  gifts  were  soon  found  to  be 
such  that  he  was  encouraged  to  use  them  freely  as 
opportunity  oifered. 

At  an  early  age  God  directed  his  course  to  this 
country,  which  proved  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  life- 
work.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  this  city  a  gen- 
tleman having  great  influence  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church   became   so  impressed  with  the 


THOMAS  ARMITAGE,  D.  D. 


REV.  THOMAS    ARMITAGE  77 

ability  of  the  young  Englishman  that  he  offered 
him  a  scholarship  in  an  Episcopal  college,  on  condi- 
tion that  when  he  graduated  he  should  take  orders 
in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Perhaps  no  young  man 
would  have  been  more  glad  than  Thomas  Armitage 
to  obtain  in  early  life  such  a  liberal  education  as 
might  have  helped  him  to  attain  more  readily  that 
ripe  scholarship  which  his  heart  was  set  upon 
achieving.  But  this  was  too  high  a  price  to  pay. 
He  was  then,  and  for  many  years  thereafter,  a 
Methodist  from  conviction,  and  no  proffered  ad- 
vancement or  personal  emolument  could  outweigh 
this  conviction. 

Not  long  afterward  he  was  ordained  a  Methodist 
preacher,  and  after  serving  several  other  churches 
in  New  York  State,  was  settled  over  a  church  in  the 
city  of  Albany.  It  was  here  that  he  began  to  have 
doubts  as  to  the  scriptural  authority  for  infant  bap- 
tism. He  had  a  child  of  the  proper  age  to  be 
christened,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  one  of  his  elders  suggested  the  pro- 
priety of  its  being  done  at  once.  The  father  hesi- 
tated, but  diligently  pursued  his  investigation  of  the 
Scriptures,  with  the  result  that  he  became  convinced 
not  only  that  an  unconscious  infant  is  not  a  proper 
subject  for  baptism,  but  that  he  himself  had  never 
been  baptized.  With  this  conviction  he  at  once  sur- 
rendered his  credentials  as  a  Methodist  minister  into 
the  hands  of  the  constituted  authorities,  and  received 
baptism  at  the  hands  of  Kev.  Bartholomew  T.  Welch, 


78  REMINISCENCES 

then  pastor  of  the  Pearl  Street  Church,  Albany,  N. 
Y.  Shortly  afterward  he  received  and  accepted  a 
call  to  become  pastor  of  the  Norfolk  Street  Baptist 
Church,  in  New  York,  as  already  stated. 

From  its  organization  the  Norfolk  Street  Church 
had  been  known  as  a  working  church.  Doctor  Ar- 
mitage's  labors,  like  those  of  his  predecessor,  Mr. 
Benedict,  were  arduous  and  unremitting,  and  his 
natural  eloquence  attracted  and  held  large  audiences. 
The  deacons  and  private  members  were  indefatigable 
in  what  they  understood  to  be  their  respective  de- 
partments— the  former  in  visiting  the  sick  and  car- 
ing for  the  poor,  the  latter  in  Sunday-school  in- 
struction and  other  work  for  building  up  the  church 
and  congregation. 

But  there  was  another  movement  in  progress 
which  at  first,  either  from  its  novelty  or  its  supposed 
impracticability,  found  little  favor;  yet  "a  little 
leaven"  in  time  "leavens  the  whole  lump."  Among 
the  recent  accessions  from  other  churches  was  one 
who  had  long  entertained  the  conviction  that  our 
Lord's  command  to  preach  the  gospel,  was  not,  and 
was  never  intended  to  be,  limited  to  a  particular 
order  of  men  set  apart  that  they  should  make  the 
ministry  of  Christ  their  life-work.  For  these  ordi- 
nation by  the  churches  seems  proper  and  convenient, 
though  not  indispensable.  But  in  addition  to  these 
the  Great  Commission  was  both  an  authorization  and 
a  solemn  injunction,  it  was  said,  from  the  Head  of 
the  church  to  every  one  of  his  disciples,  to  preach 


REV.  THOMAS    ARMITAGE  79 

his  word  to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability  and  oppor- 
tunity. Consequently  every  Christian  man  is  sol- 
emnly bound,  alike  by  his  duty  to  God  and  his  rela- 
tions to  man,  to  give  himself  to  this  work  within 
these  limits. 

Tlie  new-comer  did  not  hesitate  to  ventilate  his 
opinions,  or  fail  to  insist  that  these  views  were  not 
new  to  Baptists;  that  as  far  back  as  1848,  when  the 
Hudson  River  Baptist  Association  met  in  Laight 
Street,  Rev.  C.  G.  Somers,  moderator,  the  subject 
and  importance  of  lay-preaching  was  introduced, 
and  received  the  approval  and  endorsement  of  such 
honored  brethren  as  Rev.  Wm.  W.  Everts,  then  pas- 
tor of  the  church,  Rev.  Chas.  G.  Somers,  Rev.  Jacob 
H.  Brouner,  and  other  influential  members  of  the 
Association;  that  the  same  subject  was  frequently 
mooted  at  subsequent  meetings  of  the  Hudson  River 
and  New  York  Baptist  Associations,  and  always  met 
with  approval.  This  agitation  continued  until  1862, 
when  the  New  York  Baptist  Association,  meeting 
that  year  at  East  Marion,  L.  I.,  resolved  unani- 
mously to  issue  the  address,  a  full  copy  of  which  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  writer,  from  which  the  following 
excerpts  are  given: 

The  New  York  Baptist  Association  to  the  pastors  and 
churches  within  our  Associational  limits. 

Dear  Brethren.  We  ask  your  serious  and  earnest  at- 
tention to  the  following  resolutions  offered  at  our  seventy- 
first  anniversary,  and  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved.    First,  That  as  a  means  of  supplying  the  lack 


80  REMINISCENCES 

of  religious  instruction  and  regular  preaching  of  the 
word,  found  to  exist  in  various  parts  of  the  field  which 
we  as  Christians  and  Baptists  are  called  upon  to  culti- 
vate, and  in  view  of  the  present  inability  of  our  Associa- 
tion, or  the  people  within  such  destitue  parts  whom  it 
seeks  to  evangelize,  to  sustain  a  regular  ministry,  we  deem 
it  expedient  and  desirable  to  revive  and  encourage  lay- 
preaching  within  our  Associational  limits. 

Resolved.  Second,  That  pastors  and  churches  be  and 
hereby  are,  requested  to  seek  out  from  among  their  num- 
bers, brethren  possessing  suitable  gifts,  and  invite  and  en- 
courage them  to  devote  a  part  of  their  time  to  this  work, 
without  abandoning  their  respective  secular  callings. 

The  Association  is  deeply  impressed  with"  a  sense  of 
the  following  facts  : 

First.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  every  believer  to  do  all 
in  his  power  to  extend  the  knowledge  and  influence  of 
the  gospel. 

Second.  That  in  addition  to  the  regular  ministry  there 
are  very  many  members  of  our  churches  qualified,  or 
capable  of  becoming  qualified,  to  proclaim  the  gospel  to 
public  assemblies. 

Third.  That  the  number  of  destitute  places  where 
such  gifts  could  appropriately  be  exercised,  is  far  greater, 
especially  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities,  than  is  generally 
imagined. 

Fourth.  When,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  such  laborers 
arise,  such  destitute  places  as  are  accessible  should  be 
statedly  occupied  by  them.  .  .  While  these  means  are 
being  used  to  develop  the  latent  talent  that  is  to  be  found 
in  all  our  churches,  there  will  doubtless  be  found  some 
whose  duty  to  devote  themselves  wholly  to  the  work  of 
the  gospel  ministry  will  prove  unmistakable,  and  thus 
the  regular  ministry  will  be  reinforced  ;  but  this  will  be 
only  an  incidental,  though  happy  result.  The  main  ob- 
ject should  be  to  develop  the  gifts  of  the  private  members 


REV.  THOMAS    ARMITAGE  81 

of  our  churches  in  harmony  with  the  aspirations  of  him 
who  said:  ** Would  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets." 

After  emphasizing  the  duty  of  all  to  whom  God 
has  given  the  ability  to  ^^  preach  the  word  ^^  as  he 
has  opportunity,  the  address  concludes  with  a  few 
words  of  caution,  as  follows  : 

While  a  layman  may,  and  ought  to,  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  above  extent,  it  would  be  a  dangerous  mistake  to 
suppose  such  preaching  to  be  incompatible  with  the  ut- 
most diligence  in  any  legitimate  employment.  For  while 
we  cannot  have  too  many  preachers,  provided  always 
they  preach  the  truth,  we  may  have  too  few  merchants, 
mechanics,  and  farmers,  and  hence  we  venture  to  sug- 
gest, finally,  that  while  the  fullest  encouragement  should 
be  given  for  all  to  labor  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  the 
churches  can  scarcely  be  too  cautious  in  advising  a  per- 
son to  abandon  an  honest  worldly  calling  in  which  he  is 
useful,  for  the  work  of  a  pastor.  In  no  case  should  the 
idea  be  permitted  to  obtain,  that  the  sanction  given  by  a 
church  to  its  members  to  preach  the  gospel,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  the  above  resolutions,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  ordination,  or  to  any  other  mode  of  in- 
duction into  the  ministerial  office. 

The  above  copious  extracts  are  inserted  here  be- 
cause the  writer  believes  that  the  principles  they 
embody  are  as  scriptural,  as  practical,  as  important, 
and  as  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  all  our  churches 
to-day  as  they  ever  were,  and  will  continue  to  be  so 
until  the  last  human  soul  is  won  to  Christ. 


CHAPTER  Xy 

THE    BAPTIST   LAY-PREACHING   ASSOCIATION 

LAY-PREACHERS  Association,  would  seem 
more  proper;  but  as  many  brethren  who 
sympathized  with  the  object  and  were  willing  to 
support  it,  were  not  willing  to  attempt  preaching, 
the  above  name  was  adopted.  As  the  result  of  fre- 
quent interchanges  of  opinion  between  members  of 
different  Baptist  churches  who  held  like  opinions,  a 
meeting  was  called  at  the  house  of  Mr.  George  W. 
Hillman,  to  consider  what  action  should  be  taken ; 
and  after  prayerful  deliberation,  it  was  resolved  to 
form  a  society  with  the  above  name  and  purpose. 
All  present  signed  their  names  to  the  resolution, 
and  very  soon  the  Baptist  Lay-preaching  Association 
included  in  its  membership  the  well-known  names 
of  Hon.  George  H.  Andrews,  Hon.  William  D. 
Murphy,  Deacons  William  Phelps,  Samuel  T.  Hill- 
man,  John  W.  Stevens,  Roger  H.  Lyon,  Esq.,  Ed- 
win F.  Hatfield,  Henry  Angell,  A.  D.  Chadsey, 
M.  D.,  Charles  T.  Goodwin,  John  C.  Baxter,  Benja- 
min F.  Judson,  and  many  others,  including  the 
writer.  The  Norfolk  Street  Church  now  entered 
heartily  into  the  work.  Preaching  stations  were 
sought   for  and    established    on  Third  Avenue,  in 


THE  BAPTIST  LAY-PREACHING  ASSOCIATION    83 

Glass  Hall,  East  Thirty-fourth  Street,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  city,  and  on  the  west  side,  as  far  over  as 
Eleventh  Avenue  and  Eighty-first  Street.  To  each 
of  these  stations  went  two  brethren  every  Sunday 
afternoon,  to  preach  Christ  crucified,  the  only  hope 
of  lost  sinners.  Besides  these  distant  stations, 
meetings  were  held  every  Sunday  afternoon  in  a 
public  hall  on  Broome  Street  near  Elizabeth  Street, 
and  there  also  went  two  members  of  the  Association 
every  week,  one  of  whom  was  expected  to  preach  a 
short  sermon  from  some  portion  of  the  word  of  God, 
the  other  to  supplement,  if  he  could  do  so,  in  the 
same  line  of  thought,  or  to  assist  in  some  other  way. 
These  meetings  were  always  well  attended,  and  thus 
multitudes  listened  to  the  gospel  from  the  lips  of 
laymen,  who  rarely,  if  ever,  entered  an  evangelical 
church. 

Were  these  lay-preachers  licensed  to  preach  by 
their  respective  churches?  As  a  rule,  they  were 
not.  Some  of  them  had,  in  fact,  received  such  license 
prior  to  the  formation  of  the  Association,  and  perhaps 
two  or  three  others  were  formally  licensed  afterward  ; 
but  the  majority  Avould  have  declined  a  license  for 
two  reasons  :  First,  because  as  each  had  his  own 
business  on  which  to  rely,  they  neither  asked  nor 
accepted  pecuniary  compensation,  except  to  pay 
traveling  expenses,  to  purchase  a  book  to  aid  them 
in  their  preparations,  or  to  apply  to  some  charitable 
purpose  directly  in  the  line  of  their  work.  Whereas, 
a  licentiate,  as  a  rule,  expects,  and  very  properly 


84  REMINISCENCES 

expects,  to  be  paid  for  his  ministrations  by  the 
church  or  party  calling  for  his  services.  Second, 
these  lay-preachers  would  not  ask  a  license  to 
preach,  because  to  do  so  would  be  to  concede  to  the 
church  applied  to  the  right  to  forbid,  a  right  which 
they  have  always  felt  assured  no  Baptist  church 
would  claim  or  exercise,  so  long,  at  least,  as  the 
preachers  sustained  a  good  moral  character  and 
preached  nothing  but  the  truth. 

Moreover,  the  brethren  composing  the  Lay- 
preaching  Association  believed  that  much  evil  had 
come  to  our  churches  and  the  cause  of  Christ  by 
licensing  young  men  to  preach  the  gospel  before  their 
ability  to  preach  had  been  sufficiently  tested.  A  young 
man,  ardent,  devoted,  rejoicing  in  the  assurance  that 
his  sins  are  freely  pardoned,  is  full  of  zeal,  and  de- 
sires most  sincerely  to  do  something  effective  in  the 
service  of  his  Saviour,  and  he  asks,  "What  is  so 
effective  as  to  give  one's  self  to  the  gospel  ministry  ?  " 
Thus  impressed,  he  asks  and  receives  a  license  to 
preach.  But  preaching  is  not  so  easy  as  he  thought 
it  would  be.  He  might  have  become  an  excellent 
mechanic,  a  good  farmer,  or  a  prosperous  merchant, 
and  have  done  good  work  for  his  Lord  and  for  the 
church,  perhaps,  in  either  department ;  but  with  the 
aid  of  the  church  that  gave  him  a  license,  he  has 
closed  those  doors  of  honorable  labor  on  himself. 
He  has  given  himself  to  the  work  of  the  gospel 
ministry,  and  dares  not  draw  back.  Results  :  He  is 
always  looking  for  a  "  field,''  or  some  poor  church 


THE  BAPTIST  LAY-PREACHING  ASSOCIATION    85 

gets  a  poor  preacher,  and  both  the  church  and  the 
world  suffer  loss. 

Now  would  it  not  have  been  better  to  allow  him 
to  preach  without  the  formality  of  a  license,  until  he 
should  have  learned  for  himself  whether  people 
wanted  to  hear  him  ?  If  he  found  they  did  not,  he 
could  retire  from  the  work,  a  little  chagrined,  per- 
haps, but  without  a  sense  of  dishonor.  If  the  people 
did  want  him  it  would  be  time  enough  to  license  and 
ordain  him  on  the  same  day. 

But  some  may  ask,  what  became  of  the  Lay- 
preaching  Association  ?  Answer :  When  the  Bap- 
tist City  Mission  was  organized  to  be  the  "  working 
arm^^  of  the  Southern  New  York  Baptist  Association, 
it  took  the  place  of  the  Baptist  Sunday-school  Union, 
which  latter  had  always  fraternized  with  the  lay 
preachers,  and  gladly  availed  itself  of  their  unpaid 
labors.  The  new  society  thought  it  best  to  appoint 
only  ordained  ministers  at  its  mission  stations,  each 
with  a  stipulated  salary.  On  learning  of  this  de- 
cision, the  lay  preachers,  seeing  no  further  need 
for  their  existence  as  an  organization,  discontinued 
their  weekly  meetings,  and  virtually  disbanded. 

But  did  the  individual  members  give  up  preach- 
ing? By  no  means.  Death  has  greatly  depleted 
their  numbers ;  age  and  infirmity  have  overtaken 
some  of  those  who  are  left ;  but  their  convictions 
are  unchanged,  and  those  who  are  yet  able  are  as 
ready  to  preach  to  a  destitute  church  as  they  ever 
have  been,  without  money  and  without  price. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   NORFOLK    STREET   CHURCH  (CONTINUED) 

AS  has  been  said,  Doctor  Armitage  entered  on  his 
pastorate  in  Norfolk  Street,  July  1, 1848.  It 
should  have  been  added  that  he  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  the  lecture  room  of  Rutgers  Institute, 
then  located  in  Madison  Street,  which  the  trustees 
of  that  school  had  kindly  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  church  while  a  new  church  edifice  was  being 
erected.  The  church  had  in  the  meantime  decided 
to  sell  the  plot  of  ground,  corner  of  Broome,  and 
Norfolk  Streets,  and  build  their  new  church  home 
on  the  east  side  of  Norfolk  Street,  between  Broome 
and  Grand  Streets. 

The  new  place  of  worship  was  dedicated  to  God 
January  20,  1850,  and  cost  about  thirty  thousand 
dollars.  For  several  years  it  was  crowded  Lord's 
Day  after  Lord's  Day,  by  audiences  that  listened  to 
the  preaching  of  the  pastor  with  delight  and  profit, 
while  there  were  large  ingatherings  of  precious  souls. 
But  there  were  trials  also.  In  1852  certain  diffi- 
culties, which  dated  back  to  Mr.  Benedict's  ministry, 
and  which  he  had  vainly  entreated  might  be  settled 
during  his  lifetime,  came  to  a  head,  causing  deep 
sorrow  and  bitter  contention,  which  soon  after  led  to 
86 


THE    NORFOLK    STREET   CHURCH  87 

the  exclusion  of  twenty-six  persons  from  the  church, 
and  the  dismission  of  a  large  number  by  letter,  and 
eventually  to  the  withdrawal  of  fellowship  from  a 
sister  church  which,  contrary  to  Baptist  usage,  had 
received  these  excluded  members. 

Happily  these  breaches  of  Christian  comity  which 
disturbed  the  peace  of  some  of  our  churches  in  those 
days  were  long  since  healed,  and  so  far  as  this 
writer  knows,  each  Baptist  church  in  this  city  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  every  other.  The  difficulties 
had  however  caused  serious  dissensions  between  the 
pastor  and  some  of  his  deacons,  dissensions  which 
were  greatly  aggravated,  if  indeed  not  wholly  caused 
by,  the  burning  question  of  the  day,  the  revision 
movement. 

The  Norfolk  Street  Church  had  early  taken  posi- 
tion in  favor  of  the  revision  of  the  English  Scrip- 
tures. Those  opposed  were  a  small  minority  but  a 
very  bitter  one,  and  capable  (as  the  following  pages 
will  show)  of  working  most  disastrous  consequences. 

One  Sunday  morning  in  July,  1851,  the  pastor, 
who  had  already  become  a  leader  on  the  side  of  the 
revisionists,  had  (in  the  exercise  of  a  privilege 
usually  conceded  to  a  pastor)  invited  to  his  pulpit 
Rev.  Dr.  Archibald  Maclay,  who  having  just  re- 
turned from  one  of  his  journeys  made  as  the  advo- 
cate of  the  American  Bible  Union,  naturally  took 
occasion  to  speak  of  his  work.  This  gave  great 
offense  to  some  of  the  deacons,  and  so  aggravated 
the  existing  dissensions  between  them  and  the  pas- 


88  EEMINISCENCES 

tor  that  the  latter  appealed  to  the  church  for  redress. 
The  church,  after  due  deliberation,  referred  the  whole 
subject  to  a  judicious  committee,  with  instructions  to 
Aveigh  well  the  whole  matter  and  report.  Pursuant 
to  these  instructions,  the  committee  at  a  subsequent 
business  meeting  of  the  church,  submitted  its  report, 
recommending  that  the  entire  Board  of  deacons  be 
requested  to  resign.  The  report  thus  submitted  was 
fully  discussed  in  three  consecutive  meetings,  lasting 
from  8  P.  M.  until  near  midnight,  the  fullest  lati- 
tude for  debate  being  allowed  to  both  sides.  A 
division  was  finally  called  for,  and  the  recommenda- 
tion was  adopted  by  a  very  large  majority. 

The  resignations  followed,  and  a  lull  ensued, 
during  which  six  brethren  were  selected  to  serve  the 
church  until  a  new  election  should  be  held. 

At  the  election  which  followed  shortly,  six  breth- 
ren were  chosen  to  serve  as  deacons  in  three  classes, 
in  the  same  manner  as  trustees  are  elected  :  two  to 
serve  one  year,  two  to  serve  two  years,  and  two  to 
serve  three  years.  After  that,  two  were  to  go  out 
or  be  re-elected  every  third  year.  This,  I  think,  is 
the  first  instance,  in  this  city  at  least,  of  a  deacon 
being  chosen  for  a  limited  time.  Heretofore  such 
elections  were  for  life. 

This  action  caused  something  like  a  hue  and  cry, 
even  outside  of  the  Norfolk  Street  Church.  Many 
persons  thought  and  said  that  this  innovation  would 
prove  disastrous,  cause  bickerings,  electioneering, 
and  all  sorts  of  evil.     On  the  contrary,  the  experi- 


DEACON  CHARLES  T.  GOODWIN. 


THE   NORFOLK   STREET   CHURCH  89 

ence  of  forty-five  years  shows  the  happiest  results. 
The  deacons  first  chosen  under  the  new  rule  were 
Charles  T.  Goodwin  and  George  H.  Hansell,  Thomas 
Holman  and  J.  P.  Bliven,  M.  d.,  Sandy  Higgins  and 
Daniel  Brown.  Lots  were  drawn,  and  Charles  T. 
Goodwin,  of  the  old  Board,  and  George  H.  Hansell, 
elected  for  the  first  time,  drew  the  short  terra. 

These  two  brethren  were  re-elected  the  following 
year  and  every  third  year  thereafter,  until  Deacon 
Goodwin's  death  in  1884.  George  H.  Hansell  is 
still  in  office.  During  the  past  forty-five  years  no 
changes  have  been  made  except  those  necessitated 
by  death,  removal,  or  voluntary  resignation.  There 
have  been  but  two  instances  of  the  latter  sort.  Since 
the  election  of  the  first  Board  under  this  rule,  the 
deacons^  chairs  have  been  filled  successively  by 
Thomas  Warren,  J.  F.  Jamieson,  John  C.  Baxter, 
E.  F.  Welles,  Albert  Smith,  J.  L.  Jones,  James  D. 
Eeid,  B.  F.  Judson,  J.  F.  Comey,  L.  M.  Lawson, 
George  H.  Andrews,  H.  W.  Fish,  W.  T.  Pell,  Wm. 
H.  Bayne,  and  J.  W.  Gilbough.  Brethren  Jamieson, 
Warren,  Baxter,  Jones,  Holman,  Andrews,  Judson, 
and  Gilbough  have  died,  and  James  D.  Reid  has 
removed  to  Scotland.  The  present  deacons  are : 
George  H.  Hansell,  Horace  W.  Fish,  John  F.  Co- 
mey, Walter  T.  Pell,  L.  M.  Lawson,  William  H. 
Bayne,  T.  O.  Conant,  and  E.  H.  Paddock. 

After  the  severe  tribulations  recorded  above,  the 
church  had  comparative  peace  for  a  time,  but  dis- 
turbing elements  were  still  at  work  within,  and  these 


90  EEMINISCENCES 

were  fomented  from  without,  by  some  who,  while 
bitterly  antagonistic  to  the  pastor  and  the  conserva- 
tive members  of  the  church,  had  been  wise  enough 
to  foresee  the  evil  and  hide  themselves  by  asking 
letters  of  dismission  in  time. 

It  is  pleasant  to  realize  that  we  now  live  in  more 
peaceful  times,  and  are  happy  in  the  reflection  that 
no  afflictions  of  a  like  character  have  visited  our 
beloved  church  in  the  last  thirty-five  years,  and 
happier  still  in  the  indication  that  none  await  us  in 
the  future. 

The  years  1853  and  1854  were  distinguished  by 
a  gracious  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  were  converted,  baptized,  and 
united  with  the  church,  and  twenty- four  were  re- 
ceived by  letter,  so  that  the  church  gained  more  in 
those  years  than  it  lost  by  those  who  went  out  the 
previous  year.  There  were  constant  additions  by 
baptism  and  letter,  but  the  years  1857  and  1858 
were  especially  marked  by  divine  blessing.  During 
those  years  Doctor  Armitage  was  frequently  assisted 
by  visiting  ministers  and  evangelists.  Rev.  Lewis 
Raymond  spent  a  number  of  weeks  with  the  church, 
and  his  preaching  was  blessed  to  the  conversion  of 
many,  including  several  children  of  the  officers  of 
the  church. 

The  congregations  continued  large,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  the  pastor  was  still  listened  to  by  delighted 
audiences ;  but  the  neighborhood  was  rapidly  chang- 
ing, the  inhabitants  were    moving  away,  some  to 


THE   NOKFOLK    STREET   CHURCH  91 

Brooklyn,  Williamsburg,  and  even  to  more  remote 
parts  of  Long  Island,  while  many  others  changed 
their  residences  to  the  upper  part  of  New  York 
City.  Among  the  latter  were  numbers  from  our 
own  church  and  congregation. 


CHAPTER  Xyil 

THE   NORFOLK    STREET    CHURCH    (CONTINUED) 

IN  1858  the  church  began  seriously  to  contem- 
plate a  change  of  location,  and  in  1859  it  ap- 
pointed an  afternoon  service  for  the  benefit  of  the 
up-town  residents.  The  first  services  were  held  in 
a  hall  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Thirty-fourth 
Street,  which  soon  proved  too  small,  and  a  large  one 
was  secured  on  the  corner  of  Thirty-ninth  Street, 
where  large  and  continually  increasing  congregations 
assembled.  About  this  time  forty-three  persons  from 
the  disbanded  Central  Park  Baptist  Church  were  re- 
ceived into  our  fellowship,  and  on  June  29,  1859,  the 
church  resolved  to  remove  to  the  upper  part  of  the 
city,  and  appointed  Charles  T.  Goodwin,  Samuel 
Barstow,  George  H.  Hansell,  Benjamin  Reynolds, 
William  M.  Waterbury,  Thomas  Holman,  Thomas 
Warren,  C.  C.  Pinckney,  and  Henry  L.  Slote,  to- 
gether with  the  pastor,  a  committee  to  select  a  suita- 
ble location  for  a  new  church.  Of  this  committe, 
only  Henry  L.  Slote  and  George  H.  Hansell  are 
living;  but  John  E.  Thompson,  who  was  then 
assistant  clerk,  is  now  clerk  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Church. 

In  October,  1859,  this  committee  presented  its 

92 


THE    NORFOLK   STREET    CHURCH  93 

report,  recommending  the  purchase  of  three  lots  on 
the    west    side    of  Fifth  Avenue,  next    below  the 
corner  of  Forty-sixth  Street,  but  not  including  the 
corner  lot,  which  the  church  has  never  owned,  and 
two  lots  on  AVest  Forty-sixth  Street,  one  hundred 
feet   west  of  the   corner,    forming   an   L  with    the 
avenue  lots.     The   intention  was  to  erect  a  church 
edifice  on  Fifth  Avenue,  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
feet  deep,  and  a  chapel  on  Forty-sixth  Street,  thirty- 
five  feet  Avide,  using  the  space,  fifteen  by  twenty- 
five  feet,  at  the  rear  of  the  corner  lot  as  a  lobby 
through  which  to  enter  the  main  audience-room  of 
the  chapel.     At  this  time  the  BulPs  Head  Cattle 
Market  was  nearly  opposite    the  newly  purchased 
lots,  and  Fifth  Avenue  was  unpaved  above  Fortieth 
Street,  so  that  those  who  came  from  downtown  or 
across  town,  were   forced  to   pick   their  way  over 
loose  planks,  or  wade  through  the  mud  as  best  they 
could.     But  these  were  trifles  to  a  people  who  were 
in  earnest.     Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the 
report  of  the  committee,  the  lecture  room  was  com- 
menced, and  in  May,  1860,  was  opened  for  public 
worship,  Eev.  William  Hague  preaching  the  dedi- 
catory sermon.     In  the  meantime,  the  property  in 
JN'orfolk  Street  had  been  sold,  and  after  all  the  obliga- 
tions resting  on  the  corporation  had  been  discharged, 
the  church  had  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars 
with  which  to  commence  the  new  enterprise.     No- 
wise   daunted    at    the    magnitude    of    the    under- 
taking, the  brethren  went  right  forward,  and  doubt- 


94  REMINISCENCES 

less  would  have  carried  out  the  original  plan  had 
not  the  disastrous  Civil  War  broken  out  in  1861. 

Previous  to  this  all  had  promised  well,  but  just  as 
the  church  was  purposing  to  ^^  arise  and  build/^  this 
terrible  calamity  overtook  the  country,  and  in  the 
financial  troubles  and  depression  which  immediately 
followed,  many  of  those  through  whom  the  church 
hoped  to  prosecute  the  work  had  most  of  their 
means  swept  away,  and  eventually  the  Fifth  Avenue 
lots  had  to  be  sold.  A  further  trial  followed  in  the 
illness  and  absence  of  the  pastor,  on  whose  usually 
robust  health  constant  labor  and  intense  anxiety 
produced  such  a  strain  that  for  eight  months  during 
the  winter  of  1862-3,  he  was  obliged  to  seek  restora- 
tion to  health  by  means  of  an  ocean  trip  and  a  season 
of  rest  among  kindred  and  friends  in  his  native  land. 
During  his  absence  the  church  was  privileged  with 
the  ministrations  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Bonham,  whose 
genial,  kindly  manner  and  acceptable  pulpit  labors 
are  still  remembered  with  pleasure,  although  he  has 
since  connected  himself  with  another  denomination. 

After  Doctor  Armitage  returned  from  Europe  in 
the  spring  of  1863,  he  preached  with  much  power 
and  success,  and  the  church  took  courage ;  but  as 
there  was  no  longer  any  hope  of  recovering  the 
Fifth  Avenue  lots,  it  was  decided  to  purchase  two 
additional  lots  on  Forty-sixth  Street.  The  pur- 
chase was  made  in  1864,  thus  securing  the  plot,  one 
hundred  feet  square,  on  which  the  church  edifice, 
lecture  room,  and  parsonage  now  stand. 


THE    NORFOLK    STREET    CHURCH  95 

Change  of  Name.  In  1860,  the  church  having 
at  that  time  no  doubt  of  its  ability  to  carry  out  its 
original  plans,  having  asked  and  obtained  permission 
from  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York  State,  assumed 
the  corporate  name  of  The  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist 
Church.  Although,  as  the  church  is  at  present 
located,  the  name  is  a  misnomer,  it  has  yet  been  re- 
tained, because  its  deeds  and  other  legal  papers  had 
been  made  and  executed  in  that  name,  and  could  not 
be  changed  without  great  inconvenience  and  ex- 
pense. 


CHAPTER  Xyill 

THE   FIFTH   AVENUE   CHURCH 

THE  present  edifice  occupied  by  this  church  was 
completed  in  June,  1865,  and  dedicatory  serv- 
ices were  held  June  18.  A  parsonage  was  erected 
in  1867.  While  the  main  building  was  in  process 
of  erection  the  Madison  Avenue  Baptist  Church 
generously  tendered  the  use  of  their  house  for  an 
afternoon  service  on  Sundays,  free  of  charge.  The 
offer  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  this  proved  a 
turning-point  in  the  history  of  our  church.  At  one 
of  these  services  Mr.  E.  A.  Coray,  a  large-hearted, 
w^ealthy  Baptist  from  Scranton,  Pa.,  was  providen- 
tially present,  and  after  hearing  Doctor  Armitage's 
sermon,  pledged  three  thousand  dollars  for  our  new 
church  edifice.  Thus  aided,  we  went  forward,  and 
after  years  of  toil  our  heavenly  Father  crowned  our 
efforts.  In  1866,  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
our  existence  as  a  church,  we  enjoyed  a  reunion  of 
friends  who  came  from  near  and  far. 

In  1868  we  experienced  a  gracious  revival,  when 
the  pastor  was  assisted  by  Rev.  A.  B.  Earle,  resulting 
in  the  conversion  of  from  sixty  to  seventy  persons, 
making,  together  with  those  received  by  letter,  an 
addition  of  over  one  hundred  during  the  year. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  97 

In  March,  1871,  a  memorial  service  was  held  to 
give  expression  of  our  gratitude  to  God  for  permit- 
ting us  to  see  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  our  church 
life,  and  in  1873  we  were  privileged  to  celebrate  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  our  pastor's  settlement 
among  us.  All  these  were  occasions  of  great  joy, 
and  afforded  significant  proof  of  the  affectionate 
tenacity  that  bound  together  pastor  and  people,  and 
of  the  unalterable  affection  of  Christian  hearts,  by 
the  re-assembling  in  the  old  church  home  of  num- 
bers of  those  whose  circumstances  had  compelled 
or  induced  them  to  locate  in  distant  parts  of  our 
country. 

But  it  was  in  1878,  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
thirtieth  anniversary  of  Doctor  Armitage's  pastorate, 
that  the  church  found  occasion  to  realize  more  than 
ever  before  the  freeness  and  fullness  of  that  divine 
superintendence  that  had  guided  us  all  these  years, 
and  through  toil  and  suffering  and  perplexity,  had 
at  last  "  brought  us  forth  into  a  broad  and  generous 
place,^'  where  for  the  first  time  in  all  these  years  we 
could  worship  in  our  own  church  edifice  free  of  debt. 
In  the  achievement  of  this  we  were  greatly  aided  by 
an  active  Board  of  trustees,  and  especially  by  the 
practical  knowledge  and  constant  supervision  of  Mr. 
Warren  Beman,  one  of  their  number. 

It  was  then  determined  to  give  some  public  ex- 
pression of  our  gratitude  and  joy,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  arrange  an  order  of  exercises  and 
issue  invitations  to  as  many  of  our  former  members 


98  REMINISCENCES 

as  could  be  found,  to  be  present  on  the  occasion. 
The  committee  reported,  recommending  that  the  ap- 
proaching anniversary  should  be  celebrated  by  four 
public  services,  to  be  held  on  Sunday,  June  9, 1878, 
and  suggesting  an  order  of  exercises.  The  report 
was  adopted  and  the  recommendation  was  carried 
out  as  follows : 

Thirtieth  anniversary  of  Doctor  Armitage's  pastorate 
in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  held  June  9,  1878. 

Morning  services,  Historical,  George  H.  Hansell,  pre- 
siding. 

Noon  services.  Social,  Charles  T.  Goodwin,  presiding. 

Afternoon  services,  Financial,  George  H.  Andrews, 
presiding. 

Evening  services.  Thanksgiving,  Benjamin  F.  Judson, 
presiding. 

The  proper  time  for  this  celebration  should  have  been 
July  1,  but  as  the  pastor  was  expecting  to  be  in  Europe 
at  that  time  the  services  anticipated  the  date. 

The  order  of  the  morning  exercises  was  as  follows  : 

1.  Voluntary  and  quartette. 

2.  Invocatory  prayer,  by  the  pastor. 

3.  Reading  of  the  forty-seventh  and  forty-eighth 
Psalms,  responsively. 

4.  The  Te  Deum,  followed  with  prayer  by  Charles  T. 
Goodwin. 

5.  Address  of  welcome,  by  the  chairman,  George  H. 
Hansell,  which  is  published  by  request. 

Beloved  Friends  :  We  are  assembled  for  the  worship 
of  God  this  morning  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  in- 
terest, and  I  feel  that  my  brethren  have  conferred  on  me 
an  honor  and  a  privilege  in  that  I  am  permitted  to 
represent,  for  the  time  being,  both  the  church  and  the 
pastor,  and  to  speak  to  you  in  their  behalf  a  word  of 


THE   FIFTH    AVENUE   CHURCH  99 

welcome  and  of  cheer.  And  I  do  this  with  special  glad- 
ness because  I  see  before  me  faces  that  I  have  not  had 
the  pleasure  of  greeting  for  many  years  ;  and  because  I 
take  your  presence  to  witness  that  years  of  separation 
have  not  been  years  of  estrangement.  Yet  no  thought- 
ful person  can  stand  in  a  position  such  as  I  occupy  and 
look  backward  over  a  period  of  thirty  years  without 
mingled  emotions.  Busy  memory  will  crowd  his  mind 
with  recollections,  and  his  will  have  been  a  most  unusual 
life  if  some  of  those  recollections  are  not  tinged  with  sad- 
ness. On  the  other  hand,  his  will  have  been  an  unworthy 
life,  his  a  cold  and  thankless  heart,  to  whom  the  retro- 
spect does  not  recall  instances  without  number  of  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  blessings  ;  of  fears  happily  dissipated ; 
of  dangers  safely  passed  ;  of  great  trials  possibly,  but  of 
greater  deliverances,  affording  cumulative  proof  of  the 
faithfulness  of  our  God,  and  his  tender  mercies  to  all  who 
trust  him. 

And  that  which  has  been  true  in  the  experience  of 
the  individual  Christian,  has  been,  and  is  equally,  true, 
not  only  of  the  church  universal — the  whole  body  of 
Christ — but  of  each  particular  church  which,  as  a  vine  of 
the  Lord's  planting,  has  honestly  striven  to  grow  and  bear 
fruit  to  the  glory  of  the  Great  Husbandman  who  should 
ever  be  honored  as  the  ''dresser  of  the  vine,"  as  well  as 
the  ' '  owner  of  the  vineyard. ' '  Surely  no  church  of  Christ 
has  greater  cause  for  gratitude  and  praise  than  this 
church  has  this  morning  !  True,  we  remember  loved 
ones  who  have  passed  away,  faithful  fellow-laborers  and 
honored  standard-bearers  who  have  fallen  by  our  side,  but 
we  rejoice  that  they  fell  with  the  "harness  "  on,  and  we 
cherish  their  memory  as  examples  of  noble  lives,  illus- 
trative of  high  purposes  for  the  "kingdom  of  God,"  which 
if  not  fully  attained,  were  at  least  consistently  prosecuted, 
until  the  Master  said,  "It  is  enough."  If  redeemed 
spirits  can  look  down  from  their  bhssful  abode  to  the 


100  '  REMINISCENCES 

scenes  of  their  earthly  toils,  these  are  not  the  least  inter- 
ested witnesses  of  our  joy,  as  we  meet  this  morning,  in  a 
house  free  from  debt,  to  give  thanks  for  an  unbroken 
pastoral  relation  of  thirty  years,  and  a  church  history  of 
thirty-seven  years — a  pastorate  full  of  toil  and  abound- 
ing in  incident,  but  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
unruffled  by  dissensions  and  unmarred  by  strife,  with  no 
difficulties  to  be  adjusted,  no  flesh-wounds  to  be  healed, 
and  not  a  single  heart-burning  to  be  deplored,  and  a 
church  history  singularly  marked  by  divine  favor  and 
blessing,  and  that  during  these  years  has  had  but  two 
pastors,  and  has  been  pastorless  less  than  forty-eight 
hours. 

By  the  report  that  will  be  laid  before  you  this  after- 
noon it  will  be  seen  that  he  whom  we  recognize  as  the 
Author  of  all  spiritual  blessings  has  been  the  bestower  of 
all  our  temporal  prosperity,  and  that  he  had  bestowed  it 
abundantly.  Thus,  beloved  friends,  we  welcome  you  to 
a  whole  day  of  jubilee  and  praise,  and  ask  you  to  rejoice 
with  us  : 

First.  That  this  beloved  pastor,  who  came  to  us  thirty 
years  ago  in  the  warm  glow  of  early  manhood,  with  love 
that  none  could  doubt,  and  zeal  that  none  could  fail  to 
admire,  but  with  a  slender  physique,  which  some  of  us 
thought  little  fitted  to  sustain  the  enormous  strain  which 
his  mental  characteristics  clearly  indicated  would  be  laid 
upon  it,  and  with  a  hectic  flush  upon  his  cheek  that  seemed 
still  more  alarming,  is  not  only  with  us  still,  but  preaches 
to  us,  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  sermons  that  give  evi- 
dence of  more  vigorous  health  and  more  mental  power, 
combined  with  larger  accumulations  of  knowledge  and  a 
richer  experience,  than  he  ever  possessed. 

Second.  That  this  beautiful  meeting-house  in  which 
we  worship  is  unencumbered  by  debt. 

Third.  That  although  we  passed  through  many  and 
bitter  trials  in  the  early  part  of  our  church  life,  yet  for 


HON.  GEORGE  H.  ANDREWS. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  101 

the  last  twenty  years  we  have  had  internal  peace,  and 
through  the  grace  of  our  heavenly  Father,  a  large  meas- 
ure of  external  prosperity,  both  spiritual  and  temporal, 
for  all  of  which  we  have  deemed  this  a  suitable  occasion 
to  give  public  thanks. 

After  the  above  address  of  welcome,  Deacon 
Hansell  read  the  paper  he  had  been  requested  to 
prepare,  showing  the  history  and  progress  of  the 
church  during  the  previous  thirty  years,  the  facts 
and  incidents  of  which  have  been  spread  over  the 
foregoing  pages.  An  able  and  interesting  anniver- 
sary sermon  was  then  delivered  by  the  pastor,  and 
the  morning  services  closed  with  the  doxology  and 
benediction. 

The  social  meeting  was  held  in  the  lecture  room 
at  1  p.  M.,  Deacon  Goodwin  presiding.  A  collation 
was  served  and  many  impromptu  speeches  were 
made. 

In  the  afternoon  a  large  assembly  gathered  in  the 
main  audience  room,  Deacon  George  H.  Andrews 
presiding.  After  devotional  exercises,  a  report 
from  the  sinking  fund  committee  was  presented  by 
Messrs.  Wm.  Kemp  and  Wm.  Rockefeller,  of  the 
Board  of  trustees,  showing  that  the  mortgages  had 
been  canceled  and  that  the  church  was  entirely  free 
from  debt.  The  presentation  of  this  report  was 
followed  by  cheery  addresses  from  Deacon  Charles 
T.  Goodwin,  president  of  the  Board  of  trustees,  and 
from  Messrs.  Mason,  Reid,  Comey,  Jones,  and  Jud- 
son,  and  addresses  of  congratulation  by  Rev.  Drs. 


102  REMINISCENCES 

Thomas  D.  Anderson,  S.  D.  Burchard,  and  J.  P. 
Newman.  After  singing  a  hymn  the  meeting  was 
closed  with  the  benediction. 

Evening  session,  thanksgiving,  Deacon  B.  F. 
Judson  presiding.  A  very  large  congregation  as- 
sembled. The  exercises  consisted  of,  1.  Voluntary, 
quartette  ;  2.  Reading  responsively  the  one  hundred 
and  forty-fifth  Psalm ;  3.  Solo,  by  Mr.  E.  Gilbert ; 
4.  Prayer,  by  Deacon  James  D.  Reid ;  5.  Hymn, 
'^  The  morning  light  is  breaking  '^ ;  6,  Addresses  by 
Rev.  Drs.  J.  F.  Elder,  John  Hall,  and  J.  Cotton 
Smith. 

Hymn,  "  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds,''  was  sung, 
and  the  exercises  pertaining  to  the  thirtieth  anniver- 
sary of  Doctor  Armitage's  settlement  was  closed  with 
the  benediction. 

The  following  named  were  the  committees  and 
persons  in  charge. 

COMMITTEES. 

On  refreshments.  Mrs.  Daniel  Bates,  Mrs.  Alonzo 
Hornby,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Scribner,  and  Mrs.  L.  M. 
Lawson. 

On  flowers  and  decorations,  Mrs.  R.  Donnell, 
Mrs.  Charles  Pegg,  Mrs.  Mary  Sutton,  Mrs.  A.  L. 
Smith,  Mr.  George  Leeds,  Mr.  Thomas  L.  Harris, 
]\Ir.  George  Yaughan,  Mr.  Walter  C.  Root,  and  Mr. 
W.  H.  Jones. 

On  invitations.  Deacons  George  H.  Hansell  and 
J.  F.  Comey. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH    (CONTINUED) 

THE  years  went  by  and  soon  the  church  was  mak- 
ing preparation  to  celebrate  the  fortieth  anni- 
versary of  Doctor  Armitage's  settlement  as  pastor 
of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  church  and  congregation  held  in  the 
chapel  on  Wednesday  evening,  January  11,  1888, 
the  following  resolution  was  passed  : 

Whereas,  Our  beloved  brother  and  pastor  is  now  com- 
pleting forty  years  of  service  in  this  church,  and  it  is 
most  proper  that  this  distinguished  era  in  our  church 
history  should  be  marked  with  an  observance  befitting 
its  dignity  and  importance,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Board  of 
Deacons  be  constituted  and  appointed  a  committee  of 
arrangement  to  make  suitable  preparations  for  the  ap- 
propriate celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the 
settlement  of  the  pastor  of  this  church,  and  that  the 
clerk  be  requested  to  notify  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee of  this  action,  and  request  the  said  committee  to 
meet  at  an  early  date  to  take  into  consideration  the  sub- 
ject of  this  resolution. 

In  accordance  with  the  above  request,  a  joint 
meeting  of  the  trustees  and  deacons  was  held  in  the 
chapel    on   the   evening   of  Friday,  March   16,  at 

103 


104  REMINISCENCES 

which  Messrs.  L.  M.  Lawson,  J.  A.  Bostwick,  John 

F.  Plummer,  Wm.  Rockefeller,  and  James  D.  Reid, 
were  appointed  a  sub-committee,  with  power  to  make 
all  necessary  arrangements  for  carrying  its  purpose 
into  eifect. 

This  sub-committee  subsequently  presented  a  pro- 
gramme for  religious  exercises  to  be  held  in  the 
church  edifice,  on  Sunday,  April  22,  1888,  which 
was  adopted  and  carried  out,  as  follows  : 

Morning  service — Deacon  B.  F.  Judson,  presid- 
ing. After  a  delightful  rendering  of  the  hymn, 
'^  Oh,  for  a  closer  walk  with  God,'^  by  the  choir — 

G.  Froelich,  conductor  and  organist;  Miss  Jennie 
Dutton,  soprano;  Mr.  A.  L.  King,  tenor;  Mrs.  E.  G. 
Gilmore,  contralto ;  Dr.  Carl  E.  DufPt,  baritone — the 
services  of  the  day  were  opened  by  the  rising  of 
the  congregation  and  the  repetition  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

J.  B.  Simmons,  d.  d.,  read  selections  from  the 
Scriptures. 

The  following  Memorial  Hymn,  written  for  the 
occasion  by  Samuel  F.  Smith,  D.  D.,  was  sung  : 

Glory  to  him  whose  wisdom  led 

The  children  of  his  covenant  love  ; 
Who  fed  them  all  with  heavenly  bread, 

And  taught  and  kept  them  from  above. 

From  Horeb,  where  the  law  was  given, 
To  Canaan,  where  they  found  their  rest ; 

God  was  their  king,  their  laws  from  heaven, 
God  chose  their  way,  their  wanderings  blessed. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE   CHURCH  105 

Glory  to  him,  unchanging,  true, — 
We  bow,  adoring,  to  his  name, — 

Who  guides  his  flock  the  desert  through. 
His  love,  for  evermore  the  same. 

Glory  to  him  whose  hand  has  kept 
Our  pastor  through  his  forty  years, 

While  angel-benisons  round  him  swept, 
And  crowned  with  joy  his  toils  and  tears. 

From  Nebo  let  his  raptured  eyes 
The  promised  land  of  glory  see ; 

Then  bid  him  from  his  Pisgah  rise, 
To  dwell  forever,  Lord,  with  thee. 

After  responsive  Scripture  readings,  prayer  was 
oifered  by  Edward  Bright,  d.  d. 

Mr.  Judson  then  arose,  and  turning  to  Doctor 
Armitage,  with  much  feeling  said  : 

We  are  here  to-day,  my  beloved  pastor,  to  celebrate 
the  fortieth  year  of  your  settlement  with  us.  Forty 
years,  pastor,  have  we  known  each  other.  Thirty-seven 
years  have  we  been  in  church-fellowship  together.  What 
a  forty  years  it  has  been  !  It  has  been  forty  years  of 
hard  work,  forty  years  of  faithful  work,  and  forty  years 
of  fruitful  work  ;  and  our  hearts  to-day  are  just  as  warm, 
and  our  arms  as  open  to  receive  and  love  you,  as  ever. 

Now  (turning  to  the  congregation,  Mr.  Judson  said), 
we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  Doctor  Armi- 
tage, our  pastor,  whom  we  honor  and  love,  as  he  glances 
over  his  forty  years  of  service  with  us. 

Before  commencing  his  discourse  Doctor  Armi- 
tage spoke  as  follows : 


106  REMINISCENCES 

I  expect  to  take  ship  next  Saturday  morning  in  the 
"Umbria, "  for  Liverpool,  to  be  absent  during  the  sum- 
mer, expecting  to  return  in  October,  and  as  I  shall  need 
Thursday  and  Friday  for  making  all  the  little  prepara- 
tions incident  to  such  an  absence,  I  invite  the  church 
and  congregation  to  meet  on  Wednesday  night  for  social 
interview,  hand-shaking,  and  adieus.  In  connection  with 
that  meeting  I  wish  to  submit  a  communication  to  the 
church  and  congregation  that  shall  bear  largely  upon 
your  future  interests  as  a  people.  Next  Lord's  Day 
morning,  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Bitting,  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Harlem,  will  preach,  and  in  the  evening,  the  Eev. 
Henry  M.  Sanders,  who  will  also  have  the  pleasure  of 
administering  baptism  to  his  young  niece,  Mamie  N. 
Sanders.  On  the  first  Sunday  of  May,  and  through  the 
months  of  May  and  June,  you  will  have  the  pleasure  of 
listening  to  the  preaching  of  Dr.  John  A.  Broadus,  who 
is  one  of  the  best  preachers,  the  noblest  of  men,  and  the 
most  advanced  scholars  in  the  country. 

THE  HISTORICAL  SERMON. 

THE  RETROSPECT   OF   FORTY   YEARS. 

I  have  thought  it  best  this  morning  to  give  you  a  very 
simple  narrative  connected  with  myself  and  my  minis- 
try, and  will  read  a  passage  from  the  twenty-ninth  chap- 
ter of  the  First  Book  of  Chronicles,  found  in  the  twenty- 
sixth  to  the  thirtieth  verse,  as  a  sort  of  starting-point : 

Thus  David  the  son  of  Jesse  reigned  over  all  Israel.  And  the 
time  that  he  reigned  over  Israel  was  forty  years;  seven  years 
reigned  he  in  Hebron,  and  thirty  and  three  years  reigned  he  in 
Jerusalem.  And  he  died  in  a  good  old  age,  full  of  days,  riches, 
and  honor ;  and  Solomon  his  son  reigned  in  his  stead.  Now  the 
acts  of  David  the  king,  first  and  last,  behold  they  are  written  in 
the  book  of  Samuel  the  seer,  and  in  the  book  of  Nathan  the 
prophet,  and  in  the  book  of  Gad  the  seer.  With  all  his  reign 
and  his  might,  and  the  times  that  went  over  him,  and  over  Israel, 
and  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  tlie  countries. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  107 

This  narrative  is  so  plain  that  it  needs  no  exposition, 
and  at  the  same  time  it  is  so  suggestive  of  human  Hfe  in 
all  other  spheres  of  long  service,  as  well  as  in  that  of  a 
king,  that  any  public  man  may  find  great  profit  in  ap- 
plying some  of  its  statements  to  himself.  The  expression, 
"The  times  that  went  over  him,"  is  full  of  meaning  ;  so 
full  that  no  man  can  entirely  understand  how  the  stamp 
of  his  times  forms  the  fabric  of  his  character.  Each  man 
of  years  looks  back  on  those  times  through  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  he  moves.  The  farmer  reads  his  life  in 
agriculture,  the  builder  in  architecture,  the  physician  in 
the  art  of  healing,  the  merchant  in  commercial  transac- 
tions, the  monarch  in  statesmanship,  and  the  Christian 
pastor  in  religious  life.  All  experienced  men  see  that 
the  old  skill  and  toil,  the  things  to  be  done  and  the 
methods  of  doing  them,  have  passed  away  with  their 
times  to  a  new  order  of  things.  The  times  which  are  now 
passing  over  us  are  so  different  from  those  of  a  genera- 
tion gone,  that  the  old  methods  which  led  to  success  now 
lead  to  failure.  Time  and  chance  happen  to  all  men  ; 
but  if  men  sleep  and  dream  while  their  times  are  pass- 
ing, the  dreamer  will  come  to  serious  grief.  Now  and 
then  one  meets  with  one  of  these  belated  souls  who 
wakes  up  much  like  an  October  wind  crawling  through 
the  pine  branches  at  Christmas.  Such  men  rub  their 
eyes  and  ask  :  "What  is  the  cause  that  the  former  days 
were  better  than  these?"  Right  here  inspiration  stops 
them  with  this  protest :  "Thou  dost  not  inquire  wisely 
concerning  this."  As  in  the  landscape,  distance  softens 
every  object  while  close  contact  with  it  dissolves  its  at- 
tractions, so  it  is  in  reviewing  past  times.  He  who  gazes 
with  admiration  on  the  spreading  rural  scene  cools  his 
rapture  when  brought  into  close  contact  therewith.  The 
picturesque  hamlet  which  enraptured  him  from  a  far-off 
eminence,  as  its  villas  dotted  mountain  and  slope  and 
enwreathed  their  roof-trees  in  smoke  from  the  hearth,  is 


108  REMINISCENCES 

disenchanted  ;  for  distance  hid  all  squalor  and  disorder 
in  the  aspects  of  space.  So,  when  we  look  back  into 
times  past,  we  forget  the  rough  and  the  jagged  in  the 
softened  and  mellowed  retrospect ;  so  that  we  cease  to 
be  fair  judges  of  all  the  defects  and  inequalities,  the  as- 
perities and  inconsistencies  which  made  the  past  repul- 
sive. Very  likely,  indeed,  in  some  cases,  the  rugged  and 
unseemly  may  add  to  the  general  effect  of  bygones. 
Then  the  indistinctness  of  the  misshapen,  instead  of  of- 
fending the  eye,  throws  a  golden  halo  about  the  vanish- 
ing memory,  especially  if  we  have  been  sharers  in  the 
motives  and  contests  of  those  times.  The  intrigues  and 
jealousies  of  a  man's  present  day  affect  his  judgment 
against  a  sound  decision  on  what  is  far  back  in  his  own 
life,  until  he  becomes  disgusted  with  his  present  sur- 
roundings ;  and  so  he  concludes  that  the  present  are  de- 
generate times,  and  that  the  past  were  better.  These 
pathetic  lamentations  paint  the  world  as  changed  for 
the  worse,  and  are  apt  to  foster  conceit  in  the  old  and 
to  quench  the  confidence  of  hope  in  the  young,  till  they 
come  to  believe  in  their  own  sad  misfortune  that  they 
were  born  altogether  too  late,  and  so  to  disqualify  them 
to  serve  the  "times  which  are  to  pass  over  "  them. 

David  gained  more  renown  than  any  crowned  head 
ever  did.  Doctor  Delaney  says  of  him  that  he  was,  *'  By 
birth  a  peasant,  by  merit  a  prince.  In  youth  a  hero,  in 
manhood  a  monarch,  and  in  age  a  saint."  "First  and 
last,"  as  a  Christian  minister,  the  only  things  that  I 
claim  in  common  with  this  great  and  godly  monarch  are, 
a  parentage  and  birth  as  lowly  as  his,  a  term  of  service 
running  through  quite  as  many  years,  and  a  debt  of  love 
to  the  times  which  have  gone  over  me. 

BIRTHPLACE    AND    FAMILY. 

Your  pastor  was  born  at  Pontefract,  in  the  West 
Riding  of  York,  England.  This  town  is  of  great  antiquity. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  109 

According  to  Camden,  it  existed  before  the  Roman  con- 
quest, and  the  Romans  changed  the  name  to  Pontefract. 
For  six  hundred  years  its  wonderful  castle  was  the  pride 
and  terror  of  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  built  in 
A.  D.  1069.  Richard  II.  was  a  prisoner  within  its  walls 
and  died  there.  It  was  here  that  the  Duke  of  Gloucester 
(afterward  Richard  III.)  slew  the  Earl  Rivers,  Lord  Grey, 
Sir  Thomas  Vaughan,  and  Sir  Richard  Hant.  In  the 
time  of  the  Saxons  it  was  called  Kirkly,  and  it  was  one 
of  the  first  places  in  England  in  which  Christianity  was 
preached.  Hard  by  the  frowning  ruin  of  the  old  fortress 
lies  the  sacred  dust  of  my  precious  mother.  The  only 
memory  that  I  have  of  her  is  a  dreamy  recollection  of 
her  person,  and  the  fact  that  I  took  the  hand  of  my 
father  and  followed  six  men,  who  carried  her  on  their 
shoulders  past  the  castle  gate,  to  her  grave,  where  she 
has  slumbered  more  than  sixty  years.  .  .  My  grand- 
parents were  Wesleyans,  and  delighted  in  telling  how 
intimate  they  were  with  John  Wesley,  who  had  often 
preached  to  them,  notably  in  1790,  when  he  opened  their 
new  chapel  at  Northgate.  My  mother  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  society  there,  and  m}^  grandmother  often  led 
me  to  this  chapel  after  my  mother  was  dead.  Many  a 
time — with  a  child's  eyes — I  have  looked  up  to  that 
strange,  high  old  pulpit,  in  which  Wesley  preached,  and 
wondered  whether  it  would  ever  be  my  lot  to  stand  in 
such  a  place.  This  inquiry  was  raised  because  I  was 
constantly  told  by  the  family  that  when  my  mother  was 
dying,  she  said:  ''Bring  my  firstborn  child  to  me  and 
let  me  consecrate  him  to  Christ,  before  I  enter  into  my 
Master's  glory."  It  is  strange  that  I  can  recollect  her 
funeral,  but  not  this  scene  of  the  deathbed.  I  was  always 
solemnly  told  that  she  laid  her  hand  upon  my  head,  as 
if  in  ordination,  and  said  :  "My  Saviour,  I  leave  my  boy 
with  thee,  to  be  made  a  minister  of  the  gospel."  She 
then  called  for  her  Bible,  which  had  been  presented  to 


110  REMINISCENCES 

her  when  a  child  from  a  legacy  by  Lord  Wharton.  This 
she  delivered  to  her  mother,  with  the  charge  that  it  was 
to  be  sacredly  kept  and  given  to  me  when  I  should  be- 
come a  Christian  and  a  minister.  This  was  her  only 
legacy  excepting  her  prayers,  and  when  I  preached  my 
first  sermon  at  Attercliffe  Common,  near  Sheffield,  in 
1835,  at  a  little  more  than  fifteen  years  of  age,  the  text 
was  taken  from  this  book,  Matt.  11  :  28  :  "Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  Three  persons  were  brought  to  Christ  under 
that  sermon,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Beedle,  of  Hull,  Mass., 
who  still  survives,  was  present  and  heard  it  preached. 

EARLY  YEARS  IN  THE  MINISTRY. 

On  the  fifth  of  July,  1838,  I  sailed  from  Hull  for  New 
York,  in  the  barque  **Wolga,"  and  landed  here  on  Sep- 
tember third,  having  had  a  very  pleasant  passage  of  sixty 
days.  For  ten  years,  from  1838  to  1848,  I  labored  in  the 
Methodist  ministry.  These  years  I  must  pass  by  here, 
and  my  reasons  for  becoming  a  Baptist  at  the  end  of  that 
time.  At  the  latter  of  these  dates  I  was  pastor  of  the 
Washington  Street  Methodist  Church,  in  Albany,  and 
taking  a  regular  dismission  on  the  first  of  June,  was 
baptized  by  Bartholomew  T.  Welch,  d.  d.,  on  June  4, 
1848.  The  first  of  the  New  York  churches  that  I  visited 
with  a  view  to  the  pastorate,  was  the  Norfolk  Street. 
This  visit  was  made  on  the  eleventh  of  June,  when  I 
preached  three  sermons  in  the  first  meeting-house  owned 
by  this  church,  at  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Norfolk 
Streets.  On  June  12,  the  day  after  I  had  preached  in 
that  meeting-house,  the  building  was  burned  to  the 
ground.  I  therefore  preached  the  last  three  sermons 
that  were  preached  in  your  first  meeting-house. 

THE  CALL  TO  NEW^  YORK. 

On  the  tenth  of  June,  1848,  the  church  met  for  busi- 
ness in  the  meeting-house  of  the  Stanton  Street  Church. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  111 

Mr.  Benedict,  the  enfeebled  pastor,  presided  that  evening 
for  the  last  time,  and  affectionately  pressed  upon  his 
people  the  need  of  relieving  him  from  his  pastoral  care, 
and  begged  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  name  his  suc- 
cessor. His  request  was  granted,  and  the  same  evening 
your  present  pastor  was  chosen  to  stand  in  his  place. ^ 

At  the  close  of  the  sermon  Doctor  Armitage  gave 
the  hand  of  church-fellowship  to  four  persons  whom 
he  had  recently  baptized,  and  after  the  rendering  of 
the  anthem,  "Sing  Hallelujah/^  by  the  choir,  the 
benediction  was  pronounced  by  Rev.  Henry  S.  Day. 

Afternoon  services — Sunday-school  and  denom- 
inational reunion,  J.  A.  Bostwick,  president  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  presiding. 

At  three  o'clock  the  house  was  again  full,  with 
many  visitors  from  other  churches.  Some  important 
changes  were  apparent.  There  had  been  placed  in 
front  of  the  platform  a  fine  bronze  bust  of  Doctor 
Armitage,  the  work  of  Miss  Louise  Lawson,  of  New 
York  (since  passed  to  her  rest),  which  was  to  be 
presented  to  the  pastor  on  behalf  of  Deacon  L.  M. 
Lawson  and  Mrs.  Lawson,  the  donors.  The  bust 
was  wreathed  with  flowers,  and  the  likeness  was 
quickly  recognized. 

The  exercises  of  the  afternoon  were  opened  by 
singing  the  well-known  hymn  beginning :  "  How 
sweet  and  heavenly  is  the  sight.''  After  prayer,  by 
the  senior  deacon  of  the  church,  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Han- 

^  Doctor  Armitage' s  acceptance  of  this  call  and  its  condi- 
tions, have  already  been  recorded. 


112  EEMINISCENCES 

sell,  followed  the  anthem,  '^  We  praise  thee,  O  God,'^ 
sung  by  the  choir. 

Mr.  Bostwick,  in  a  few  appropriate  words  of  in- 
troduction, announced  that  John  F.  Plummer,  Esq., 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  w^ould  deliver  the 
address  of  welcome,  and  would  also  present  the 
bronze  bust  of  Doctor  Armitage,  the  gift  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lawson. 

Mr.  Plummer  then  said  in  part : 

Mr.  Chairman,  Brothers,  Sisters,  and  Friends. — We 
are  here  to-day  to  speak  kind  words  to  our  beloved  pas- 
tor, and  to  join  in  all  these  exercises  as  an  expression  of 
our  sense  of  the  grandness  of  his  work,  and  of  our  recog- 
nition of  the  nobility  of  his  character.  In  the  presence 
of  this  great  community  during  the  past  forty  eventful 
years  Doctor  Armitage  has,  with  mingled  toil  and  trial, 
completed  a  record  which  commands  our  admiration, 
gratitude,  and  love.  We  are  here  to-day  to  express  that 
gratitude  and  give  loving  testimony  of  our  common 
esteem  for  him  as  pastor  and  friend. 

It  is  no  easy  task,  in  these  busy  days,  to  value  aright 
the  character  which  one  makes  in  his  or  her  life  ;  but 
with  the  testimony  of  these  forty  years  before  us,  where 
we  can  look  at  it  in  the  clear  light  of  its  public  record, 
where  we  can  properly  estimate  the  value  of  its  lessons 
and  the  nature  of  its  influences,  we  feel  that  in  this  case, 
at  least,  it  is  well  rounded  and  complete.  .  .  To  have 
been  able,  therefore,  to  stand,  as  Doctor  Armitage  has, 
in  one  pulpit,  before  one  people,  before  one  community, 
and  so  manage  all  the  affairs  which  have  come  under  his 
direction,  as  to  have  the  church  over  which  he  presides 
to-day  as  pastor  love  him  more  truly  than  ever  before, 
and  the  community  in  which  he  has  lived  and  made  his 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  113 

record,  admire  and  honor  him  as  they  do,  is  a  noble  vic- 
tory and  grand  example.  .  .  My  friends,  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  welcome  you  here  this  afternoon  ;  to  welcome  you  the 
friends,  you  the  members  of  this  church,  to  these  memo- 
rial services.  I  welcome  the  friends,  who  will  have  many 
tender  memories  revived.  I  welcome  the  children,  in 
whose  hearts  no  man  had  a  warmer  place  than  Doctor 
Armitage.  He  has  never  been  too  old  for  even  the 
youngest  child. 

Mr.  Plummer  continued,  in  substance,  as  follows : 

On  behalf  of  two  of  our  beloved  members.  Deacon  L. 
M.  Lawson  and  his  good  wife,  I  present  to  Doctor  Ar- 
mitage the  bust  in  bronze,  now  before  me  ;  and  I  can 
best  do  this  by  reading  a  letter  addressed  to  J.  A.  Bost- 
wick,  Esq.,  Chairman,  and  signed  L.  M.  Lawson  and 
Theodosia  Thornton  Lawson. 

The  writer  of  these  Reminiscences  regrets  not 
having  space  to  insert  in  full  the  eloquent  letter 
which  concludes  thus  : 

While  the  genius  of  the  artist  has  molded  the  noble 
effigy  for  temporal  vision,  Thomas  Armitage  himself  has 
erected  a  monument  more  enduring  than  bronze  in  the 
grateful  hearts  of  his  people,  which  shall  tell  to  coming 
time  the  influence  of  his  love  and  power. 

In  reply  to  the  address  of  presentation,  Doctor 
Armitage  then  said  : 

Brother  Moderator. — Bronze,  as  a  metal,  is  an  ad- 
mixture of  tin  and  copper  and  is  extremely  ancient.  I 
suppose  that  the  brass  of  the  New  Testament  was  a  spe- 
cies of  bronze,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  that  of  the  Old 

H 


114  REMINISCENCES 

Testament  was  also.  In  the  history  of  arts  we  have  the 
three  ages.  First,  that  of  stone,  so  that  the  implements 
of  labor  and  warfare  were  probably  of  stone  in  the  earliest 
history  of  man.  Then  came  the  age  of  bronze,  and  after 
that  the  age  of  iron.  But  human  nature  is  older  than 
bronze.  Love  lived  in  the  human  bosom  before  the 
amalgam  of  tin  and  copper  entered  the  human  brain, 
and  although  bronze  is  the  most  durable  of  all  the  metals 
excepting  gold,  bronze  will  disappear,  its  elements  will 
dissolve,  its  existence  will  be  forgotten,  while  love  will 
still  bind  man  to  man  and  to  the  heart  of  the  living  God, 
and  live  through  all  the  coming  years. 

I  thank  my  dear  brother  and  sister  for  this  very  valu- 
able present,  and  I  prize  it  the  more  and  receive  it  with 
the  greater  cheerfulness  in  behalf  of  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren, because  it  is  the  work  of  a  woman — of  a  gentle 
Christian  lady.  I  know  her  well.  Her  grandfather  was 
a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  she  molded  that  bronze 
from  my  face  because  she  loved  me  as  a  Christian  pastor. 
I  think  she  did  her  work  well. 

Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Judson,  pastor  of  the  Berean 
Church,  was  then  introduced  by  Mr.  Bostwick,  and 
spoke  as  follows  in  substance : 

Mr.  President,  Brothers,  and  Sisters. — I  esteem  it  a 
very  great  privilege  to  share  in  commemorating  with 
music  and  flowers  and  gladness  an  interchange  of  Chris- 
tian thought  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  Doctor  Armi- 
tage's  pastorate.  My  memory  can  scarcely  stretch  over 
forty  years.  Forty  years  ago  I  was  a  puny  little  boy  in 
Burma.  My  father  was  just  completing  nearly  forty 
years  of  his  missionary  career,  while  Doctor  Armitage 
was  beginning  that  ministerial  life  which  has  flowed  on 
in  this  great  city  through  all  these  years  like  a  deep  be- 
neficent river. 


THE   FIFTH   AVENUE   CHURCH  115 

I  believe  in  occasions  of  this  kind.  Doctor  Hoge,  of 
Richmond,  lately  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text, 
"Say  so,"  taken  from  the  one  hundred  and  seventh 
Psalm,  "Let  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  say  so."  It 
taught  the  duty  of  saying  so.  I  shall  never  forget  some 
lines  written,  I  think,  by  Walter  Savage  Landor,  in  which 
a  wife  apostrophizes  her  husband  as  follows  : 

Carve  not  upon  a  stone  when  I  am  dead, 

The  praises  which  remorseful  mourners  give 
To  women's  graves  a  tardy  recompense ; 

But  speak  them  while  I  live. 
Forget  me  when  I  die :  the  violets  above  my  rest 

Will  blossom  just  as  blue, 
Nor  miss  thy  tears ;  e'en  Nature's  self  forgets ; 

But  while  I  live  be  true. 

During  my  acquaintance  w^ith  Doctor  Armitage,  I  have 
learned  to  admire  his  rich  learning.  .  .  I  never  heard 
him,  either  in  private  conversation  or  in  the  pulpit,  use 
other  than  pure,  classical  English.  .  .  Again,  I  have 
learned  in  my  acquaintance  with  him,  to  appreciate  also 
his  crystallized  simplicit3^  I  never  heard  him  make  a 
statement  in  private  discourse,  or  on  the  platform,  or  in 
the  pulpit,  that  was  not  crystalline  in  its  lucidity. 

The  truth  may  be  a  deep  well,  but  you  can  see  to  the 
bottom  of  it.  .  .  Again,  I  have  always  loved  Doctor  Ar- 
mitage because  of  his  guilelessness.  I  do  not  know  a 
man  about  whom  it  could  be  more  truly  said  that  he  was 
straight  grained,  about  whom  there  was  nothing  crooked 
or  sly.  .  .  The  nearer  you  come  to  Doctor  Armitage, 
and  the  better  you  know  him,  the  more  you  find  this 
trait  of  guilelessness,  of  solid  sincerity,  that  he  was  the 
same  all  the  way  through. 

The  following  hymn,  contributed  by  a  young  lady 
in  Boston,  and  sent  to  the  superintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, Dr.  J.  H.  Gunning,  was  then  sung : 


116  REMIN ISCENCES 

We  come,  dear  Lord,  with  joyful  heart ; 

Glad  dawns  the  watched-for  day  ; 
And  turning  from  earth's  cares  apart, 

We  grateful  homage  pay. 
From  out  thine  hand  all  blessings  fall, 

Love,  honor,  length  of  days  ; 
Pastor  and  people,  one  and  all, 

Raise  now  glad  notes  of  praise. 

For  him,  our  leader,  teacher,  friend, 

Our  shepherd,  given  of  thee, 
Our  prayers  shall  ever  reascend 

In  ceaseless  symphony. 
For  two-score  years  the  bread  of  life 

His  tireless  hand  has  fed, 
And  dauntless  'mid  earth's  jostling  strife, 

In  heavenly  pathways  led. 

His  monument  be  saved  souls, 

By  word  or  printed  page  ; 
Heaven's  mystic  book  of  life  enrolls 

Its  countless  heritage. 
Now  grant,  dear  Lord,  our  heart's  desire, 

Bend  near  us  while  we  pray  ; 
Refresh,  reward,  uphold,  inspire, 

Cheer  all  his  upward  way. 

Long  may  his  cherished  presence  lend 

Its  comfort  and  its  grace  ; 
Rich  harvest  seasons  may  he  spend 

In  his  accustomed  place  ; 
And  when  the  golden  gates  unfold, 

Safe  on  that  heavenly  shore  ; 
Crown  him,  'mid  glories  never  told, 

Not  lost,  but  gone  before. 

E.  S.  MacArthur,  d.  d.,  pastor  of  Calvary  Church, 


THE   FIFTH   AVENUE   CHUKCH  117 

was  introduced  by  Mr.  Bostwick,  and  spoke  in  his 
usual  eloquent  and  forceful  style.  A  few  brief  ex- 
cerpts must  suffice  here,  as  follows : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Good  Friends. — This  is  an  occa- 
sion of  much  more  than  ordinary  interest,  not  for  this 
church  alone,  and  not  for  the  churches  of  our  loved  de- 
nomination alone,  but  also  for  the  churches  of  all  denom- 
inations in  the  city  and  for  the  city  of  New  York  as  a  city. 
When  a  man  completes  forty  years  of  such  a  pastoral  life 
as  that  of  Doctor  Armitage,  we  would  be  false  to  every 
instinct  of  humanity,  and  false  to  every  prompting  of 
Christianity,  if  we  did  not  mark  the  occasion  by  special 
thanks  and  by  appropriate  words. 

Personally,  I  am  glad  to  be  here  this  afternoon. 
When  I  came  to  New  York  eighteen  years  ago,  one  of 
the  first  to  greet  me  with  the  words  of  a  brother  and  a 
father,  was  Doctor  Armitage.  I  have  often  thanked  God 
for  words  of  kindness  spoken  then,  and  for  his  many 
deeds  of  kindness  performed  since.  .  .  I  find  in  Doctor 
Armitage  something  of  the  brilliancy  of  Robert  Hall, 
with  much  of  the  tenderness,  sweetness,  and  simplicity 
of  Andrew  Fuller.  Robert  Hall  was  much  the  more 
brilliant  of  the  two.  The  world  has  long  listened  to  his 
eloquent  words  spoken  under  the  shadow  of  the  great 
universities  of  England  ;  but  the  world  has  felt  the  throb 
of  Andrew  Fuller's  heart.  Andrew  Fuller  also  shaped 
the  theological  thinking  of  England  and  America  as 
Robert  Hall  never  did  or  could.  Thomas  Armitage  is, 
at  times,  Robert  Hall  in  his  lofty  eloquence,  in  his  bril- 
liancy, in  his  splendor  of  diction.  He  is  always  Andrew 
Fuller  in  his  devoutness,  sweetness,  gentleness,  and  loy- 
alty to  God  and  his  Christ. 

Let  me  say,  in  the  second  place,  that  I  admire  Doctor 
Armitage  because  of  his  loyalty  to  his  own  church  and 


118  REMINISCENCES 

denomination,  while  at  the  same  time  he  is  courteous 
toward  all  other  churches  and  denominations.  There  is 
no  contradiction  between  these  two  positions.  No  man, 
I  think,  is  so  able  to  have  a  warm  hand  and  loving  heart 
for  men  of  other  denominations  as  the  man  who  is  loyal 
to  his  own. 

Some  time  ago  Mr.  Spurgeon  told  the  story  of  a  com- 
positor who  was  setting  up  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  and  who, 
when  he  came  to  the  reference  to  Daniel,  "And  Daniel 
had  an  excellent  spirit  in  him,"  set  it  up,  "And  Daniel 
had  an  excellent  spine  in  him."  Mr.  Spurgeon  says  the 
compositor  did  not  make  much  of  a  mistake.  It  cer- 
tainly was  true  of  Daniel,  and  if  there  is  anything,  I 
think,  we  all  need  to-day  as  Christians  and  as  members 
of  the  various  denominations,  it  is  an  excellent  spine. 
We  need  to  know  the  truth  and  to  stand  erect  under 
every  burden  which  its  advocacy  obliges  us  to  bear, 
so  that  we  can  be  loyal  to  our  distinctive  beliefs  with- 
out ever  being  discourteous  toward  those  who  cherish 
opposite  faiths.  Here  sits  our  true  friend  and  brother. 
Doctor  Crosby.  What  a  noble  Baptist  he  would  make  ! 
But  I  ought  to  feel  kindly  to  the  Presbyterians,  for  my 
father  and  mother  both  started  as  Presbyterians.  My 
mother  learned  better  after  she  grew  older ;  but  my  father 
never  did.  He  remained  a  stalwart  in  support  of  his 
early  training  in  Scotland,  but  he  always  said  :  "I  ad- 
mire the  consistency  of  Baptists,  and  if  I  believed  as  they 
do  with  reference  to  baptism,  I  would  do  precisely  as 
they  do  with  reference  to  the  Lord's  table." 

The  children  of  the  Sunday-school  then  sang  the 
anniversary  hymn,  written  by  Harry  C.  White,  Yale, 
April  10,  1888. 

Now  we  our  voices  raise 
To  Christ  our  King, 


THE   FIFTH    AVENUE    CHUECH  119 

In  anthems  of  glad  praise, 

Grateful  we  sing. 
Rich  have  thy  blessings  been 
Through  thy  minister  to  men, 
We,  for  his  service,  then 

Thanksgivings  bring. 

In  him  has  lodged  thy  power 

Children  to  lead ; 
His  pure  life  every  hour 

Scatters  good  seed. 
On  this,  the  festal  day, 
For  continued  care  we  pray. 
May  he  have  strength  alway 

For  good  to  plead. 

May  the  revolving  years 

New  blessings  show, 
Guarding  his  life  from  tears 

And  human  woe. 
When  comes  the  loving  call, 
Raising  him  from  earthly  thrall, 
There,  shall  the  angels,  all, 

Sing  ''Welcome  home." 

Mr.  Bostwick  next  introduced  Rev.  Dr.  Howard 
Crosby,  "  a  man  beloved  by  all  denominations,  and 
by  none  more  than  by  ourselves. 

Doctor  Crosby  began  as  follows  : 

What  an  excellent  spine  Brother  MacArthur's  father 
had  !  We  Presbyterians  are  generally  rather  strong  in 
that  portion  of  our  frame,  and  yet  I  appear  here  to-day 
not  as  a  Presbyterian  ;  for  whatever  my  private  views  in 
regard  to  Presbyterian  doctrine,  they  are  subordinate  to 
the  word  of  God. 


120  REMINISCENCES 

Continuing,  the  doctor  said  : 

Forty  years  ago  brings  us,  the  older  members  of  this 
assembly,  back  to  the  memory  of  a  very  remarkable  year, 
that  of  1848.  The  year  when  Louis  Philippe  ran  away  from 
his  throne  ;  the  year  in  which  Pius  IX.  was  driven  out  of 
Rome  ;  the  year  in  which  the  emperor  of  Austria  had  to 
abdicate  his  throne  ;  the  year  in  which  the  late  emperor 
of  Germany  (then  Prince  of  Prussia)  was  stoned  in  Dus- 
seldorf ;  the  year  of  revolutions.  Well  I  remember  that 
year,  for  I  spent  part  of  it  in  Europe,  and  saw  three  or 
four  of  the  battles  that  occurred  during  that  stormy 
period.  It  is  a  long  time  ago  ;  if  measured  not  by  inci- 
dents of  human  history,  but  by  the  experience  of  human 
souls,  it  is  a  very  long  time.  How  much  good  has  been 
done  in  all  this  time  by  my  brother !  .  .  I  pray  that  the 
Lord  will  long  continue  him  among  us,  that  he  may  con- 
tinue the  work  he  has  been  doing. 

C.  DeW.  Bridgeman,  d.  d.,  pastor  of  Madison 
Avenue  Baptist  Church,  was  introduced.  He  said 
in  part : 

Good  Friends. — It  would  be  indelicate  to  pour  out  on 
Doctor  Armitage  all  the  complimentary  phrases  which 
this  occasion  prompts  one  to  utter.  His  joy  in  the  serv-, 
ice  might  be  slain  by  the  offense  that  would  be  done  to 
his  modesty.  Still,  I  am  in  most  hearty  accord  with 
what  brethren  have  said  as  to  the  propriety  of  our  using 
great  freedom  of  speech  notwithstanding  his  presence, 
and  allowing  something  more  than  a  few  trickling  drops 
of  eulogy  to  escape  from  our  hearts.  .  .  The  opportu- 
nity, however,  which  is  given  us  to-day,  is  something 
unusual.  Forty  years  are  commemorated — forty  years 
of  a  pastorate  that  still  is  unbroken.  The  fact  is  signifi- 
cant of  capacity,  of  faithfulness,  of  high  Christian  char- 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  121 

acter  ;  and  whilst  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  may  mul- 
tiply words  to  show  their  estimate  of  his  worth,  this 
celebration  itself  is  Doctor  Armitage's  best  eulogy. 

The  hour  being  late,  Doctor  Bridgman  concluded 
his  very  interesting  address,  much  of  which  is  neces- 
sarily omitted,  in  the  following  touching  words  : 

May  strength  and  grace  still  be  given  him  from  above 
as  his  ministry  is  continued  ;  may  your  love  abound 
toward  him  whilst  other  years  come  and  go,  until  his 
ministr}^  be  fulfilled,  and  the  glory  is  given  him  which  is 
declared  in  the  promise,  "They  that  be  wise  shall  shine 
as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn 
many  to  righteousness  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

D.  C.  Potter,  d.  d.,  was  then  introduced  and  said  : 

The  hour  is  late,  and  the  necessity  of  your  departure 
reminds  me  of  a  Greek  astronomer,  who,  going  into  the 
square  of  Athens  and  staring  at  a  great  stellar  chart,  en- 
tered into  a  long  and  tedious  discourse  about  wandering 
stars.  Stern  old  Diogenes  coming  along,  heard  him  and 
said  grimly  :  *'It  is  not  the  stars  that  are  wandering,  it 
is  your  audience." 

.  Who  is  there  who  would  not  be  glad  to  stand  on  this 
platform  and  place  a  wreath  on  that  brow  ?  (Pointing  to 
the  bronze  bust.)  I  have  looked  all  around  among  these 
beautiful  decorations  hoping  that  I  might  discover  some- 
where a  chain  of  leaves  to  put  there.  It  was  the  custom 
of  those  who  went  to  the  old  games  to  carry  laurel  and 
bay  wreaths  for  the  victors,  and  after  the  games  were 
completed,  almost  to  smother  them  as  they  threw  them 
on  one  after  the  other.  Who  is  there  who  would  not  be 
glad  to  throw  a  laurel  wreath,  if  he  could,  upon  the 
brow  of  Thomas  Armitage  ? 


122  EEMINISCENCES 

It  had  been  arranged  for  some  more  distinct  serv- 
ices on  the  part  of  the  Sunday-school  and  an  address 
by  Dr.  J.  H.  Gunning,  superintendent,  but  they  were 
unwillingly  given  up  because  of  the  limited  time  and 
the  number  of  speakers. 

Evening  services — Keunion  of  church  and  con- 
gregation, John  F.  Plummer,  Esq.,  presiding. 

An  audience  packing  the  house  in  every  part  was 
again  present,  with  a  number  of  distinguished  friends 
of  Doctor  Armitage  on  the  platform. 

The  chairman : 

The  time  has  arrived  for  us  to  commence  the  closing 
services  of  this  most  delightful  day.  Permit  me  to  ex- 
plain why  I  am  here  before  you  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Wm. 
Rockefeller,  whose  name  is  on  the  programme  to  preside 
this  evening.  Mr.  Rockefeller  is  suffering  from  indispo- 
sition and  is  unable  to  speak,  and  has  asked  me  to  take 
his  place.  I  reluctantly  do  so,  knowing  the  pleasure  it 
would  have  been  to  you  all  to  have  heard  from  one  of 
whom  it  can  be  said,  no  more  loyal  friend  to  this  church 
and  to  his  pastor  lives. 

Music,    ^^  There    is    a    green    hill  ^^ — Somerset ; 
prayer,  by  Mr.  James  D.  Reid. 
Mr.  Plummer  then  said  : 

Our  exercises  this  morning  were  under  the  care  and 
direction  of  officers  of  the  church,  and  Doctor  Armitage 
gave  us  a  most  instructive  and  interesting  narrative  of 
his  forty  years'  pastorate,  and  of  its  historical  connection 
with  this  city. 

This  afternoon  the  time  was  occupied  by  the  offerings 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  123 

of  his  brother  pastors,  who  laid  willing  tributes  of  love 
and  affection  at  his  feet. 

You  will  see  by  the  programme  of  the  evening  that  it 
is  to  be  a  church  and  congregational  reunion,  and  much 
of  the  time  will  be  given  to  personal  reminiscences. 

It  is  now  my  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  Deacon  L. 
M.  Lawson,  who  will  address  you  with  words  of  welcome. 

After  extending  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  audience, 
and  thanking  the  ladies  especially  for  their  presence 
and  their  co-operation  in  all  that  had  given  interest 
to  these  anniversary  exercises,  Mr.  Lawson  continued 
in  part  as  follows  : 

Anniversaries  are  usual  events  ;  so  usual,  that  they 
come  to  all  existence  that  is  marked  by  birth,  and 
growth,  and  decay.  .  .  This  anniversary  is  to  this  church 
yet  a  youthful  fete,  for  though  the  interval  of  time  be- 
tween 1848  and  the  present  is  a  long  period  in  the  life 
of  any  one  of  us,  it  is  a  short  time  in  the  existence  of  a 
great  organization.  Of  all  the  great  sovereigns  who  ruled 
the  nations  of  the  world  at  the  time  when  Doctor  Armi- 
tage  entered  the  ministry,  not  one  of  them  remains  save 
her  most  gracious  majesty,  the  queen  of  his  native  isle. 
In  our  own  land  the  year  1848  marked  the  close  of  the 
Mexican  War,  and  the  addition  to  the  territory  of  the 
Union  of  a  region  as  vast  as  all  that  which  lies  between 
the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  .  .  .  and 
our  country's  banners  "  dip  their  fringes  in  the  Western 
sea,"  while  the  vast  and  busy  region  once  known  as  the 
American  desert,  is  now  the  seat  of  civilization  and 
wealth,  and  is  traversed  by  railway  carriages  at  the  speed 
of  thirty  miles  an  hour.  I  need  hardly  speak  of  the  won- 
derful growth  of  the  Baptist  denomination  and  the  suc- 
cess of  its  great  enterprises,  nor  here  and  now,  of  the 


124  REMINISCENCES 

foremost  part  taken  therein  by  our  pastor.  To  this  in- 
dividual church  he  has  been  all  that  grace  and  power 
and  zeal  could  bestow,  the  cheerful  guide  to  age  in  its 
extremity,  the  hopeful  prop  of  manhood  in  adversity,  the 
joyful  counselor  of  youth  in  its  fairest  hope,  and  even 

Children  followed  with  endearing  wile, 

And  plucked  his  gown  to  share  the  good  man's  smile. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Lawson's  address,  the 
chairman  introduced  D.  Henry  Miller,  D.  D.,  and 
Messrs.  John  D.  Kockefeller,  Charles  L.  Colby,  L. 
H.  Niles,  J.  F.  Comey,  and  Walter  T.  Pell.  Want 
of  space  forbids  more  than  the  following  brief  ex- 
tracts from  these  interesting  addresses. 

Doctor  Miller  said  in  part ; 

I  wanted  to  be  here  to  show  my  sympathy  with  my 
brother  and  my  rejoicing  in  the  day  and  the  occasion 
and  all  that  is  involved  in  it.  I  was  reminded  this  after- 
noon of  a  minister  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  who  took 
for  his  text,  ''None  of  these  things  move  me."  He  said 
he  would  divide  his  text  under  the  three  heads  following  : 
First,  ''Some  things  should  move  us,"  and  secondly, 
"Some  things  should  not  move  us,"  and  thirdly,  "We 
should  move  some  things."  I  think  you  have  brought 
us  to  just  the  spot  and  the  place  where  some  things  are 
being  moved  :  aflfections,  precious  memories,  the  recol- 
lections of  other  days,  the  associations  of  seasons  gone, 
and  with  men  loved  and  honored.  .  .  You  have  had  a 
grand  man  here.  You  cannot  say  too  much  of  him. 
You  cannot  do  too  much  for  him.  We  have  felt  his 
power  in  the  Associations,  in  the  churches,  in  the  coun- 
cils, and  in  the  ministry ;  and  when  there  has  come  a 
time  when  special  counsel  was  needed,  a  man  to  stand  in 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  125 

the  gap,  to  do  us  honor  as  well  as  himself  and  his  Master, 
Doctor  Armitage  was  the  man. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  said  of  Doctor  Armitage  : 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance  for  nearly 
twenty  years.  I  have  valued  that  friendship  very  highly. 
It  is  a  pleasant  thing  as  I  look  back  over  these  years,  for 
me  to  feel  that  I  have  always  been  getting  good  from 
him,  and  never  harm. 

Mr.  Colby  spoke  in  substance  as  follows : 

A  business  man  tests  everything  and  measures  every- 
thing. That  is  the  very  essence  of  business.  If  he  is 
going  to  deal  with  a  man,  he  w^ants  to  get  that  man's 
measure.  He  sizes  him  so  as  to  know  just  how  big  he  is. 
If  he  has  officers  or  clerks  under  him,  he  wants  to  know 
just  how  far  and  what  departments  he  can  trust  to 
their  ability  and  their  integrity.  He  w^ants  to  know  just 
how  big  a  hole  each  man  can  fill.  When  he  has  a  doctor, 
or  a  lawyer,  or  a  minister,  he  measures  him  in  the  same 
way.  He  tests  him  with  the  test  that  he  applies  to  other 
things.  One  of  the  first  things  that  a  business  man  wants 
to  know  about  those  w^ho  are  with  him  is,  do  they  aim 
for  results?  Sometimes  I  hear  a  man  preach  an  eloquent 
and  beautiful  sermon,  and  I  go  out  of  the  door  and  hear 
the  remarks  that  are  made.  ''Oh,  what  an  eloquent 
man  he  is ;  what  a  beautiful  sermon  we  have  had  to-day  ; 
how  apt  those  quotations  were  ;  I  do  not  believe  that 
there  is  another  man  in  the  city  who  draws  so  easily 
and  fills  the  pews  so  well  as  he."  But  I  do  not  hear  a 
single  man  say,  ''I  declare,  I  am  not  so  good  a  man  as 
T  thought  I  was.  I  have  been  stirred  this  morning. 
I  wdll  have  to  turn  around  and  face  the  other  w^ay  and 
do  better."     On  another  occasion,  after  Avhat  many  have 


126  REMINISCENCES 

called  an  ordinary  sermon,  I  hear  a  man  say,  ' '  I  believe 
I  am  a  sinner.  I  never  thought  I  was  such  before."  I 
recognized  at  once  the  difference  between  the  preachers. 
One  man  is  preaching  for  a  reputation,  preaching  to 
draw  an  audience,  the  other  for  results.  If  a  party  of 
gentlemen  in  Wall  Street  should  send  a  man  to  Europe 
to  sell  securities,  and  when  he  reached  there  he  enter- 
tained his  customers  with  a  beautiful  discourse  about 
the  matters  under  consideration,  and  they  should,  as 
they  parted,  only  say,  "He  is  a  most  wonderful  and 
brilliant  talker,"  the  men  who  sent  him  over  would  at 
once  order  him  home  and  would  tell  him  that  that  was 
not  what  he  was  sent  to  do.  So,  the  man  in  the  pulpit 
is  there  for  a  purpose.     Does  he  aim  to  accomplish  it? 

When  we  measure  Doctor  Armitage  by  the  results  of 
his  preaching,  we  see  what  he  has  worked  and  aimed 
for.  Count  up  the  children  that  he  has  led  to  that  Shep- 
herd who  has  taken  them  in  his  arms.  Count  up  the 
young  men  who  have  gone  out  from  his  church  into 
every  part  of  our  land,  and  wherever  they  are,  are  stand- 
ing up  for  that  Saviour  whom  Doctor  Armitage  taught 
them  to  love.  Count  up  the  young,  strong  men,  who 
everywhere  to-day  are  standing  in  the  front  ranks,  hold- 
ing the  banner  of  the  cross,  and  who  tell  you  that  they 
have  been  brought  there  through  his  kind  aid.  Count 
up  the  older  men  who  to-day  stand  about  him,  with  their 
hearts  as  warm  as  ever,  and  who  believe  in  the  Saviour 
and  Redeemer  of  men.  Count  them  up  and  you  will 
find  a  host. 

Many  of  us  have  been  to  church  when  ministers,  gen- 
erally young,  have  talked  to  us  about  advanced  thought ; 
of  something  which  they  think  nobody  else  ever  thought 
of.  They  have  got  ahead  of  the  times.  Old  mistakes, 
they  have  said,  must  be  rectified  ;  that  the  old  doctrines 
are  worn  out,  and  that  they  have  new  ways  and  new 
methods  to  propose. 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  127 

If  any  have  ever  come  to  Doctor  Armitage  expect- 
ing to  hear  about  any  new  doctrine,  some  new  way  to 
everlasting  life,  they  have  gone  away  disappointed.  They 
have  come  here  and  heard  the  same  old  story  of  the 
cross,  the  one  way  of  salvation  direct  from  Calvary  to  the 
Eternal  City.  He  has  kept  on  that  track  as  steadily  as 
Uie  locomotive  on  the  rail.  When  the  engine  under- 
takes to  pull  across  lots,  it  goes  into  the  ditch,  and  the 
preacher  who  tries  a  newer  or  a  shorter  way  than  by  the 
good  old  gospel  track,  is  sure  to  fail.  The  doctor  has 
kept  on  the  track. 

But  an  engine  is  useless  without  fire.  It  may  be  a 
beautiful  thing,  it  may  be  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  but  it 
is  useless  and  helpless  as  a  clod  of  clay  without  fire.  In 
a  great  factory  all  is  silent  and  still.  There  is  not  a  loom 
at  work,  not  a  wheel  turning,  not  a  shaft  in  motion. 
There  is  no  fire  in  the  box.  But  light  that  fire  and  start 
the  steam  and  the  whole  machinery  will  be  alive  with 
motion.  So  there  are  ministers,  well  educated,  thor- 
oughly trained,  able  men,  great  scholars,  but  they  stir 
nobody,  because  they  have  no  fire.  Doctor  Armitage, 
from  first  to  last,  not  only  has  had  the  fire  burning  in 
his  own  heart,  but  he  has  fired  up  everybody  else.  I  be- 
lieve but  little  can  be  accomplished  in  this  world  without 
enthusiasm,  without  soul,  without  fire. 

Doctor  Armitage  has  had  a  magnificent  career  of  forty 
years.  His  work  has  been  grand.  We  hope  it  may  be 
grander  still.  We  hope  also  that  when  that  work  is  over, 
his  deeds  will  live  long  after  he  is  gone. 

At  the  request  of  the  chairman,  Mr.  King,  the 
tenor  of  the  church  choir,  sang,  with  much  effect, 
"  Come  unto  me/^ 

The  chairman  said  :  "  We  are  unfortunate  in  not 
having  with  us  Mr.  George  N.  Curtis  and  Mr.  D. 


128  REMINISCENCES 

W.  Manwaring,  from  whom  remarks  were  expected, 
but  who  are  necessarily  absent/^  Mr.  Niles  spoke 
at  some  length,  concluding  with  : 

In  1868  or  1869  I  became  identified  with  this  church, 
and  remained  with  it  twelve  years.  My  relations  were 
very  delightful,  and  I  recall  them  w'ith  great  pleasure. 
Doctor  Armitage  endeared  himself  to  me  and  my  family, 
and  I  rejoice  to  be  here  to-night  to  do  him  honor. 

Deacon  J.  F.  Comey  said : 

I  have  loved  some  few  public  men  ;  but  outside  of 
family  ties,  I  never  loved  any  man  as  I  love  Doctor 
Armitage.  Twenty  years  ago  I  united  with  this  church. 
...  I  have  never  known  Doctor  Armitage  in  all  these 
years  to  tremble  in  uttering  his  convictions.  Such 
teachings  have  been  an  inspiration  to  me  many  a  time. 
He  has  blessed  my  family,  and  my  children  have  become 
Christians  under  his  ministry. 

Deacon  W.  T.  Pell  greeted  Doctor  Armitage  as : 

The  friend,  counselor,  and  loving  pastor  of  his  boy- 
hood, who  seemed  always  to  be  in  the  mood  for  saying 
something  interesting  and  bright.  There  have  been 
few  enjoyments  so  great  as  to  listen  to  your  conversa- 
tion. 

Mr.  Frank  J.  Goodwin  concluded  some  interest- 
ing recollections  of  Doctor  Armitage's  frequent  visits 
to  his  father's  house  when  the  speaker  was  a  small 
boy,  by  a  loving  tribute  to  the  pastor. 

Addresses  were  also  made  by  Col.  Joel  W.  Ma- 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  129 

son,   Rev.    Samuel    Alman,   Rev.   D.   W.   Wisher, 
Hon.  Thomas  C.  Acton,  and  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fiske. 
Colonel  Mason  said,  in  substance ; 

I  became  acquainted  with  Doctor  Armitage  soon  after 
he  was  chosen  pastor  of  this  church.  He  was  then 
preaching  in  Norfolk  Street.  I  had  been  attending  the 
Tabernacle  Baptist  Church  in  Mulberry  Street,  but  the 
congregation  moved  to  Second  Avenue  and  Tenth  Street, 
then  considered  to  be  away  uptown.  So,  wishing  to  go 
to  some  Baptist  church,  and  hearing  there  was  a  Baptist 
minister  near  where  I  then  lived,  I  went  to  hear  him. 
When  I  arrived  the  lower  part  of  the  house  was  filled  to 
overflowing,  but  I  managed  to  get  into  the  gallery. 
Thomas  Armitage  was  the  preacher.  He  was  delivering 
a  course  of  sermons  to  young  men.  He  handled  his 
subject  without  gloves,  and  as  he  denounced  the  vices 
and  follies  of  young  men,  I  felt  like  shouting  Amen,  and 
I  said  to  my  wife,  **  That  is  the  minister  for  us."  From 
that  time  to  this  I  have  been  a  member  of  his  congrega- 
tion. I  have  been  greatly  benefited  by  the  very  able 
sermons  preached  by  Doctor  Armitage,  especially  in  my 
life  as  a  business  man.  His  annual  sermons  to  the  aged 
and  the  young  of  both  sexes  have  been  models  of  the 
best  religious  common  sense.  .  .  Forty  years  have 
passed  since  Doctor  Armitage  became  pastor  of  this 
church.  His  path  has  not  always  been  strewn  with 
flowers.  He  has  encountered  many  a  thorn  in  the  way 
and  had  his  share  of  the  afflictions  of  human  life.  But 
he  is  now  in  the  flower  of  his  usefulness.  The  church 
and  congregation  have  just  reason  to  feel  proud  of  him, 
and  to  be  thankful  that  he  has  so  long  been  spared  to  them . 

Rev.  Samuel  Alman,  pastor  of  the  Emmanuel 
Baptist  Church,  then  said  : 


130  REMINISCENCES 

Mr.  Chairman  :  When  I  read  the  names  of  the 
speakers  on  this  programme,  not  being  present  to  hear 
them  at  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  sessions,  I  came  to 
the  conckision  that  Httle  could  be  said  by  me  that  was 
new ;  but  in  that  basket  of  fair  HUes  (pointing  to  a  basket 
of  flowers),  while  all  have  the  same  outward  appearance, 
they  yet  differ  in  size  and  tint  and  form,  and  it  takes 
them  all  to  make  that  beautiful  cluster.  I  want  to  add 
one  lily  more. 

I  come  from  your  oldest  daughter,  doctor,  your  first 
child,  to  put  upon  your  head  a  wreath  of  evergreen,  and 
I  assure  you  that  no  more  pleasant  office  could  be  dele- 
gated to  me  than  this. 

Addressing  the  church,  Mr.  Alman  said : 

There  is  something  very  markedly  peculiar  in  the  re- 
lationship that  exists  between  the  speaker  and  your 
pastor.  As  many  of  you  know,  I  was  born  and  trained 
when  a  youth,  very  religiously  in  the  orthodox  Jewish 
faith,  and  when  I  was  a  boy  I  remember  oftentimes  my 
father's  and  my  mother's  hands  resting  upon  the  Hebrew 
lad,  in  the  solemn  prayer  X)f  dedication.  My  name, 
Samuel,  means  something.  It  was  my  mother's  and 
father's  prayer  that  I  should  be  a  Jewish  minister,  and 
constantly  their  hands  were  upon  my  head,  especially  on 
Friday  night,  when  we  went  into  the  synagogue  to  wor- 
ship.    They  wanted  me  to  be  a  Jewish  rabbi. 

As  a  lad  I  wandered  around  the  world  a  good  deal, 
until  I  reached  the  age  of  twenty-four,  when  I  was  con- 
verted and  brought  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  When  I 
was  ordained  before  this  pulpit,  something  like  twenty 
years  ago,  and  the  dear  doctor's  hand  rested  upon  my 
head  trembling  in  emotion  and  in  benediction,  my 
memory  went  back  to  my  boyhood  days,  and  I  said, 
truly  God  is  good  and  he  has  answered  the  prayer  of  my 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE   CHURCH  131 

father  and  mother  in  a  more  abundant  manner  than 
they  ever  conceived  of.  Not  a  minister  of  circumcision, 
but  a  minister  of  the  everlasting  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
And  I  will  never  forget  the  consecrating  prayer  that  the 
doctor  then  offered  standing  here  where  I  now  stand. 

Now,  I  not  only  come  representing  the  daughter  of 
this  church,  but  more,  I  might  also  say  the  grand- 
children. Oh,  how  many  of  them  have  been  born 
through  this  instrumentality  !  And  it  is  very  fitting  that 
I  should  say  only  this  word  here  to-night :  We  owe  all 
that  we  are,  and  all  that  we  shall  be,  humanly  speaking, 
to  the  kind  treatment,  the  sympathy,  the  devotedness 
and  the  benevolence  of  this  church  and  pastor.^  .   . 

There  is  one  thing  I  want  to  emphasize.  I  am  not  a 
collegian.  I  never  had  the  opportunity  of  one  day's  ed- 
ucation in  any  institution.   .   . 

If  I  am  anything  as  a  Christian  pastor  to-day,  I  owe 
it  largely  to  the  kind  fatherly  treatment  and  help  I  re- 
ceived from  Doctor  Armitage,  when,  timid  and  fearful, 
I  entered  the  Master's  service.  I  am  glad  to  be  here  to- 
night to  say  this  word. 

Doctor  Armitage  can,  I  think,  say  with  the  psalmist 
to-night,  "My  cup  runneth  over."  It  is  better  to  give 
flowers  to  the  living  while  they  can  enjoy  them  than  to 
put  them  on  the  coffin  when  they  are  gone.  And  so  you 
have  been  strewing  flowers  of  praise,  of  aff'ection,  and  ad- 
miration. It  is  right  to  do  so.  It  is  a  grand  thing  for  a 
church  to  say,  * '  We  have  had  our  pastor  for  forty  years. ' ' 
I  ask  you  to  accept  our  notes  of  gladdest  greeting. 

Rev.  D.  W.  Wisher  (colored),  pastor  of  the  Mount 
Olivet  Church,  being  introduced,  spoke  as  follows : 

1  Emmanuel  Church  is  a  branch  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Church,  and  its  edifice  was  erected  by  J.  A.  Bostwick,  Esq., 
and  presented  to  its  trustees. 


132  REMINISCENCES 

Mr.  Chairman  :  It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I 
am  here  as  a  messenger  of  Mount  Olivet  Baptist  Church, 
the  daughter,  sending  words  of  love,  words  of  congratula- 
tion, words  of  praise  to  her  father  and  mother  in  the  faith, 
to  celebrate  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  their  marriage  as 
pastor  and  church.  Our  hearts  to-day  are  glad  and  full  of 
thanksgiving  to  God  for  his  goodness  and  his  grace  to  us 
both.  At  the  same  time  we  feel  proud  that  we  can  honor 
ourselves  as  we  thank  God  that  ever  since  we  were  born 
out  of  this  church  he  has  kept  us  so  that  you  can  look 
upon  us  and  feel  that  we  have  not  dishonored  your  name. 
With  great  reverence  and  high  respect,  we  look  up  to 
you.  Doctor  Armitage,  and  if  it  were  the  custom  in  this 
age,  as  when  Greece  crowned  its  great  men,  its  renowned 
poets,  its  statesmen,  its  brave  soldiers,  and  the  victors 
of  the  Olympic  games,  with  wreaths  of  honor,  we  would 
with  hands  trembling  for  joy  place  upon  your  venerable 
head  a  wreath  of  honor,  for  there  is  none  more  worthy 
to  wear  it. 

For  forty  years,  Doctor  Armitage,  you  have  been  the 
pastor  of  this  noble  branch  of  God's  Zion,  united  with 
your  people  in  love  and  Christian  zeal,  toiling  hand  in 
hand,  and  have  wrought  a  work  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard that  has  been  one  among  the  grandest  in  Baptist 
history. 

Yet,  although  we  look  upon  ourselves  as  the  least 
among  your  children,  we  know  that  you  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  us.  In  the  ten  years  since  you  and  your 
dear  people  blessed  us  as  a  church,  we  have  gained  over 
five  hundred  souls  for  Christ. 

Let  me  say  in  conclusion  that  we  pray  God  to  bless 
you,  doctor,  to  add  many  years  to  your  life  full  of  joy 
and  peace,  and  to  crown  you  with  abundant  success  in 
the  future  as  he  has  in  the  past. 

Hon.  Thomas  C.  Acton  spoke  a  few  words  with 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  133 

an  energy  that  greatly  delighted  the  audience.     He 
said  : 

I  went  to  the  Pacific  coast  many  years  ago  and  I  was 
taken  for  a  Baptist  minister,  and  then  for  a  Methodist 
minister,  but  this  is  the  first  opportunity  I  have  ever  had 
of  speaking  from  a  pulpit.  I  have  known  Doctor  Armi- 
tage  as  a  preacher  of  Christ,  and  as  a  patriot — a  stanch 
patriot  during  the  war.  No  better  man  lives.  Though 
he  is  an  unassuming,  pleasant  gentleman,  he  has  got  the 
moral  courage  to  face  all  evil  for  a  principle.  He  could 
stand  before  a  gatling  gun  for  his  country  and  not  shake. 
God  bless  you,  doctor. 

Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fiske  was  then  introduced,  and 
spoke  substantially  as  follows  : 

When  I  heard  Doctor  Miller  announce  that  he  w^as  an 
ex-Methodist,  that  Doctor  Armitage  was  an  ex-Methodist, 
and  several  other  illustrious  personages  were  ex-Meth- 
odists, then  I  knew  what  gave  spirit  and  power  and  suc- 
cess to  this  meeting.  I  have  made  a  full  day  of  it.  I  have 
been  here  and  I  enjoyed  it  all  day  long.  This  is  one  of 
my  BajDtist  days.  I  came  because  I  love  Doctor  Armi- 
tage. I  have  always  had  a  warm  side  toward  Baptists. 
My  mother  was  one  of  the  best  Baptist  mothers  that 
ever  breathed.  Doctor  Armitage  had  a  good  Methodist 
mother,  and  that  makes  us  half-brothers  at  least. 

I  can  say  to  him  and  to  you,  God  bless  him,  God  bless 
you.  We  can  express  no  better  wish  for  ourselves,  for 
him,  or  for  you  and  this  great  church,  than  that  we  may 
be  a  part  of  the  celebration  in  the  life  to  come,  in  that 
better  life  to  which  Doctor  Armitage  has  so  faithfully 
pointed  all  who  have  listened  to  his  sermons. 

The  chairman  then  said  : 


134  EEMINISCENCES 

We  now  close  the  record  of  the  day — the  record  of  the 
history  of  forty  years — with  profound  admiration  and 
gratitude  for  all  that  it  has  brought  us.  This  pulpit  has 
had  a  sweet,  true,  simple  life  in  it,  and  you  know  its  re- 
sults. They  have  been  brought  beautifully  before  you 
to-day.  "Well  done  good  and  faithful  servant."  Let 
us  all  rise  and  sing,  '  *  Praise  God  from  whom  all  bless- 
ings flow." 

The  benediction  was  then  pronounced  by  Rev. 
D.  Henry  Miller,  and  the  fortieth  anniversary  of 
Doctor  Armitage's  pastorate  came  to  a  close. 


CHAPTER  XX 

INTERDENOMINATIONAL   SERVICES 

ALTHOUGH  Doctor  Armitage's  strict  ideas  of 
iiis  obligations  to  his  own  people  rarely  al- 
lowed him  to  do  service  in  other  churches  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  or  to  invite  ministers,  either  of  his  own 
or  other  denominations,  to  exchange  pulpits  with 
him,  yet  his  opportunities  for  social  intercourse  with 
brethren  in  the  ministry  of  all  the  different  churches 
were  many  and  frequent.  His  genial  traits  of  char- 
acter were  such  that,  whether  in  public  meetings  or 
social  gatherings,  few  men  were  more  warmly  wel- 
comed or  more  sincerely  loved.  Forty  years  of 
steady  service  in  one  city  pulpit  was  in  itself  a  test 
of  eminent  ability,  and  his  profound  study  of  the 
word  of  God  had  made  him  the  acknowledged  peer 
of  any  of  his  ministerial  brethren.  Noted  for  fearless 
annunciation  of  the  truth  as  he  understood  it,  he 
was  justly  distinguished  for  his  broad  charitableness 
and  refined,  conciliatory  manner.  These  qualities 
endeared  him  to  other  denominations  as  well  as  to 
his  own,  therefore  it  occasioned  no  surprise  that 
Christian  ministers  of  all  denominations  should  de- 
sire to  do  honor  to  a  ministry  such  as  that  of  Doctor 
Armitage,  or  that  they  should  seek  an  opportunity 

135 


136  REMINISCENCES 

to  give  expression  to  their  feelings  as  in  the  follow- 
ing letter : 

Mr.  J.  A.  BosTAViCK. 

Dear  Sir.  Understanding  that  the  fortieth  anniversary 
of  Doctor  Armitage's  ministry  in  this  city  is  near  at  hand, 
we  hope  it  will  not  seem  an  intrusion,  if  we  suggest  that 
to  others,  as  well  as  to  his  own  congregation,  such  an  oc- 
casion is  a  matter  of  deep  interest.  He  has  done  so  much 
for  the  general  good,  as  well  as  to  the  particular  church 
he  serves,  that  we,  in  common  with  so  many,  hold  him 
in  such  high  esteem  that  we  shall  be  glad  to  hear  that 
those  who  are  nearest  to  him  will  in  some  fitting  way 
allow  us  to  commemorate  these  forty  years  of  faithful 
Christian  services. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Thomas  Hastings.  James  M.  Ludlow. 

S.  M.  Hamilton.  Wm.  M.  Taylor. 

C.  A.  Briggs.  C.  a.  Stoddard. 

John  Hall.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd. 

Geo.  S.  Payson.  Abbott  Kittredge. 

Wendall  Prime.  T.  W.  Chambers. 

Howard  Crosby.  Henry  M.  Field. 
W.  T.  Sabine. 

A  very  courteous  response  was  made  by  Mr. 
Bostwick  on  behalf  of  the  trustees  and  deacons, 
heartily  assenting  to  the  service  proposed,  and 
placing  the  church  edifice  at  their  service.  At  the 
request  of  Doctor  Hastings,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  M.  Sanders 
Avas  invited  to  aid  in  the  proposed  arrangements. 
The  time  agreed  upon  for  the  services  was  April  24, 
1888,  at  8  p.  M.  The  auditorium  was  completely 
filled,  and  a  large  number  of  distinguished  clergy- 


JABEZ   A.  BUSTWICK. 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL   SERVICES  137 

men  occupied  the  platform.  Prayer  was  offered  by 
Kev.  Charles  C.  Norton,  d.  d.  An  anthem  was  sung 
by  the  choir.  Doctor  Hastings  delivered  an  intro- 
ductory address,  saying  in  part : 

I  look  up  to  my  friend  and  brother,  Doctor  Armitage, 
with  mingled  respect  and  affection.  When  I  awoke  to 
the  idea  that  he  is  such  a  patriarch,  I  said  to  myself: 
"Dear  me!  we  have  been  side  by  side  all  these  years 
and  I  have  not  known  how  I  should  reverence  him."  .  . 
I  know  these  Baptists  pretty  well.  I  have  lived  across 
the  street  from  them  nineteen  years,  and  know  many  by 
sight,  for  they  linger  about  the  door  under  the  droppings 
of  the  sanctuary,  holding  sweet  communion  on  the  side- 
walk, and  I  have  learned  their  wnys.  So  the  next  thing 
that  occurred  to  me  was,  ''If  they  have  congratulatory 
memorial  services,  they  will  have  it  all  to  themselves, 
and  not  let  us  take  a  share."  I  ventured,  in  a  moment 
of  forgetfulness,  to  suggest  to  a  good  Baptist  brother,  "If 
you  must  have  a  good  time  all  by  yourselves,  do  try  it 
again,  and  let  the  representatives  of  other  churches  that 
love  your  minister,  come  together  and  share  your  joy, 
and  pay  their  tribute  of  congratulation."  The  sugges- 
tion was  kindly  received,  and  because  it  happened  to 
come  from  me,  I  am  here  to-night  in  this  position.  .  . 
If  there  is  one  thing  I  have  particularly  liked  about  Doc- 
tor Armitage,  it  is  this  :  he  knows  how  to  differ  with  a 
man,  and  differ  like  a  Christian  and  like  a  gentleman. 
He  knows  what  he  believes,  and  why  he  believes  it,  and 
he  stands  by  it ! 

Doctor  Hastings  continued  his  remarks  in  a  very 
tender,  touching  strain,  calling  up  many  fond  recol- 
lections of  bygone  years.  He  illustrated  the  real 
union  of  all  Christians  by  a  view  he  once  had  from 


138  reminisce:n'ces 

the  summit  of  Mount  Washington.  ^^  Before  the  sun 
had  risen  it  had  seemed  a  solemn,  majestic,  lonely- 
peak,  but  when  the  great  orb  of  day  had  dispersed  the 
obscuring  mists,  it  was  found  to  be  but  one  of  a  con- 
nected chain  of  mountains,  all  having  a  single  base/' 
He  concluded  by  saying :  "  God  bless  you,  my 
brother,  and  may  the  shadows  lengthen  slowly.'' 
Doctor  Hastings  then  introduced  Dr.  Henry  M. 
Sanders,  Avho  said : 

It  is  certainly  a  very  gratifying  sight,  and  one  most 
pleasing  to  Doctor  Armitage,  to  see  here  so  many  and  so 
distinguished  representatives  of  other  denominations, 
and  I  question  whether  the  spectacle  afforded  him  last 
Sunday,  when  so  many  of  his  brethren  more  closely  affili- 
ated with  him  in  ecclesiastical  ties  crowded  this  church, 
gratifying  as  it  must  have  been,  was  any  more  so  than 
what  he  witnesses  to-night.  .  .  If  we  were  called  upon 
to  express  any  one  characteristic  of  Doctor  Armitage  we 
should  come  nearest  to  unanimity  in  saying,  ' '  aflfection- 
ateness."  Any  of  us  who  have  received  a  letter  from 
him  in  the  well-known  chirography  (with  penmanship  so 
legible  that  it  indicated  the  sincerity  and  transparency 
of  his  own  character)  as  we  came  to  the  close  and  read, 
''Yours,  affectionately,  Thomas  Armitage,"  have  felt  the 
throb  of  the  heart-beat  in  those  words. 

Doctor  Sanders  then  read  letters  from  Bishop 
Henry  C.  Potter,  Rev.  Drs.  Chambers,  William  M. 
Taylor,  William  T.  Sabine,  and  Lyman  Abbott,  re- 
gretting their  enforced  absence,  and  expressing  the 
most  affectionate  sympathy  with  the  object  of  the 
meeting.     Doctor  Hastings  then  introduced  succes- 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL    SERVICES  139 

sively  Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley,  editor  of  the  "Christian 
Advocate/^  a  Methodist  journal ;  Dr.  J.  M.  King,  rep- 
resenting a  Methodist  pulpit ;  Rev.  Chas.  F.  Deems, 
of  no  denomination  or  of  all  denominations,  then 
pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Strangers,  and  Dr.  John 
Hall,  each  of  whom  delivered  addresses  more  than 
worthy  to  be  reported  in  full,  but  meagre  excerpts 
must  suffice.     Doctor  Buckley  said  : 

Doctor  Armitage  received  his  original  impulse  in  the 
Methodist  denomination.  He  justifies  his  change  upon 
the  ground  that  as  his  mind  unfolded  and  he  thought  for 
himself,  he  saw  that  his  environment  was  not  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  internal  condition.  For  that  reason 
he  changed.  Such  a  change  is  an  honest  one.  He  de- 
parted, but  he  left  behind  him  love  and  esteem.  He  was 
a  man  of  convictions,  and  being  an  able  man,  he  became 
a  power  among  his  new  people. 

Dr.  James  M.  King  said : 

I  want  to  pay  my  tribute  to  Doctor  Armitage  for  his 
intense  denominationalism,  not  offensive,  narrow  sec- 
tarianism, but  intense  denominationalism  !  I  love  my 
family  better  than  any  other  man's  family,  but  I  have, 
because  of  the  intensity  of  my  love  for  those  who  belong 
to  me  in  sacred  relationship,  all  the  broader  and  ten- 
derer feelings  toward  the  families  of  others. 

Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems  said  : 

When  there  is  one  in  our  midst  who  for  forty  years  has 
been  pointing  the  way  to  heaven  and  leading  men  away 
from  sin,  I  stand  before  the  fact  wdth  reverence.  .  . 
Doctor  Armitage  may  pass  away,  and  the  special  words 


140  REMINISCENCES 

he  has  uttered  may  have  fallen  upon  the  last  ear  that 
shall  receive  them  ;  his  books  even,  having  done  their 
work,  may  be  relegated  to  the  library  of  the  curiosities  of 
past  literature,  but  the  influence  of  his  earnest  Christian 
ministry  will  live.  .  .  A  man  may  take  up  any  printed 
page  of  Thomas  Armitage  and  pick  a  flaw  in  this  sen- 
tence, or  a  mistake  in  that ;  but  there  is  not  a  man  who 
has  known  his  career  who  will  not  feel  that  that  is  an 
argument  for  the  truth  of  Christianity  more  convincing 
than  any  syllogism  that  ever  was  written. 

Before  introducing  the  next  speaker,  the  chairman, 
Doctor  Hastings,  related  the  following  story : 

My  devoted  colleague,  Doctor  Shedd,  seldom  indulges 
in  anecdote,  but  I  have  heard  him  tell  this  story  with  a 
great  deal  of  humor.  He  was  waiting  on  one  of  our 
wharves  for  an  incoming  steamer  and  overheard  two 
'longshoremen  talking  together.  One  said  :  "Jack,  I  am 
going  next  Sunday  to  hear  Ward  Beecher." 

"Why  !  who  is  Ward  Beecher  ?"  asked  the  other. 

"Why  don't  you  know  who  Ward  Beecher  is  ?  " 

"No,  I  never  heard  of  him  before." 

The  other  said,  "  He  is  a  Baptist." 

Doctor  Shedd  stopped  and  looked  at  the  men,  saying  : 
"  Are  you  sure  that  Ward  Beecher  is  a  Baptist?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  I  know  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,"  said  Doctor  Shedd,  "I  think  you  are  mis- 
taken." 

"Well,"  was  the  reply,  "he  is  a  peculiar  kind  of  a 
Baptist.  He  is  what  they  sometimes  call,  I  think,  a 
Pedobaptist." 

We  shall  now  hear  from  a  large  representative  of  the 
Pedobaptists,  Dr.  John  Hall. 

Dr.  Hall  said: 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL   SERVICES  141 

I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  know  Doctor  Armitage 
and  have  had  the  same  estimate  of  him  that  has  been 
held  by  my  brethren  :  that  he  was  a  true  Christian  gen- 
tleman, a  genuine  godly  minister,  in  the  truest  sense  a 
good  neighbor,  and  that  he  could  be  counted  upon  as  a 
brother  upon  whose  sympatliy  and  practical  assistance 
one  could  always  rely.  .  .  He  has  been  kind  enough  to 
permit  me  to  speak  from  the  pulpit  to  his  people  here, 
and  I  feel  sure  that  a  man  so  conscientious  would  not 
have  done  so  if  he  had  not  had  a  general  belief  that  I 
would  try  to  preach  the  truth. 

The  chairman  then  said :  "  Now,  I  think  we  can 
fitly  close  our  service  with  that  grand  old  hymn — 

''Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love." 

After  the  hymn  had  been  sung  Doctor  Armitage 
said  : 

I  offer  my  thanks  to  you,  dear  friends,  for  your  pres- 
ence, and  to  my  own  church  for  their  appreciation,  and 
for  all  they  have  done  to  make  these  services  and  those 
of  last  Sunday,  so  happy.  .  .  To-morrow  night  my  own 
church  and  congregation  will  please  meet  me  in  this 
place.  I  shall  have  communications  to  make  with  refer- 
ence to  the  future,  and  I  want  to  take  leave  of  you  by  a 
shake  of  the  hand  and  a  touch  of  the  heart,  because  I 
shall  be  standing  on  the  deck  of  a  vessel  on  Saturday 
morning  next,  and  will  be  absent  until  the  coming 
October. 

May  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  love  of 
God  our  heavenly  Father,  and  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  abide  with  us  forever.     Amen. 


142  REMINISCENCES 

Thus  closed  the  public  services  connected  with 
the  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  Doctor 
Armitage's  pastorate  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist 
Church. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH    (CONTINUED) 

DOCTOR  Armitage's  Resignation. — The  no- 
tice given  by  Doctor  Armitage  that  he  would 
present  a  communication  to  the  church  at  its  next 
regular  meeting  (on  the  evening  of  May  25)  which 
would  largely  affect  its  future  interest,  drew  to- 
gether a  large  congregation.  After  the  meeting 
was  opened,  Doctor  Armitage  read  a  paper,  the  sub- 
stance of  which  was  as  follows  : 

No.  2  West  Forty-sixth  Street, 
New  York,  April  25,  1888. 
To  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church. 

My  Beloved  Brethren  :  On  March  28  I  asked  you 
to  grant  me  an  absence  from  pastoral  work  until  October 
next,  for  procuring  the  rest  which  years  of  unbroken 
labor  now  demand.  This  request  you  referred  with 
power  to  the  united  Board  of  deacons  and  trustees,  who 
have  unanimously  granted  the  petition,  and  I  hope  to 
leave  for  Europe  on  the  28th  inst.  On  returning  in 
October,  I  shall  have  entered  upon  the  seventieth  year 
of  my  age.  .  .  For  several  years  I  have  cherished  the 
hope  that  at  the  close  of  my  fortieth  year  as  pastor  with 
you,  the  tranquillity  which  man  commonly  needs  and 
craves  at  three-score  years  and  ten,  might  be  granted  to 
me.  In  the  year  1889,  I  shall  have  been  a  pastor  for 
fifty  years,  and  I  would  like  to  spend  the  rest  of  my  days 

143 


144  REMINISCENCES 

in  the  quiet  and  moderate  pursuit  of  such  Uterary  work 
as  cannot  be  well  done  together  with  the  heavy  duties 
which  my  pastoral  responsibilities  impose.  These  views 
have  been  fully  expressed  to  several  officers  of  the 
church.  .  .  The  deacons  and  trustees  have  kindly  con- 
sulted with  me  concerning  my  wishes,  and  have  ad- 
dressed to  me  these  touching  words  :  ''Beloved  as  you 
have  been  and  are,  so  you  shall  remain.  You  are  re- 
vered as  father,  brother,  counselor,  and  guide ;  and 
sympathies  born  of  so  many  years,  and  intertwined  with 
so  many  memories  of  joy  and  sorrow,  cannot  be  broken 
now.  We  propose,  therefore,  to  place  you  in  such  inti- 
mate relations  to  us  as  will  secure  to  you  larger  leisure 
for  studies,  in  which  you  have  shown  peculiar  aptitude, 
by  freeing  you  from  the  exactions  of  weekly  service  in 
the  pulpit,  and  the  demands  inseparably  connected  with 
a  large  Metropolitan  pastorate.  This  will  separate  you 
from  your  accustomed  labor,  but  not  from  us."  .  . 
They  also  say  in  regard  to  my  support,  "Pastor,  dis- 
miss all  care  on  that  subject,  and  leave  yourself  in  the 
hands  of  your  life-long  friends."  Not  another  word  is 
needful  from  them  on  that  point,  and  all  anxiety  on  my 
part  would  be  superfluous.  .  .  Long  pastorates  are  de- 
sirable for  many  reasons  ;  but  there  is  a  time  for  them 
to  cease,  lest  feebleness  and  retrogression  ensue.  .  . 
When  I  accepted  the  office  of  pastor,  in  1848,  it  was  on 
the  condition,  that  when  either  party  desired  the  disso- 
lution of  the  pastoral  relation,  three  months'  notice 
should  be  given  to  the  other  party. 

Therefore  I  now  tender  my  resignation  to  take  efifect 
January  1,  1889. 

This  letter,  so  unexpected  to  nearly  every  one 
present,  was  listened  to  in  almost  painful  silence, 
and   but  for  the   positive   terms   in   which   it  was 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  145 

couched,  might  have  been  refused.  It  was,  how- 
ever, the  result  of  careful  consultation  on  the  part 
of  Doctor  Armitage  with  true  and  tried  friends  of 
himself  and  the  church,  and  this  was  made  evident 
in  an  address  by  Mr.  Bostwick,  showing  that 

This  communication  from  the  pastor  had  been  deter- 
mined upon  after  the  most  kindly  conferences  between 
himself  and  the  joint  committee  .  .  .  and  had,  in  every 
particular,  the  unanimous  endorsement  of  both  deacons 
and  trustees.  .  .  At  the  same  time,  it  is  mutually  un- 
derstood that  in  no  case  do  we  consent  that  his  name 
and  presence  shall  be  taken  from  this  church,  or  that  he 
shall  ever  be  the  pastor  of  another.  We  want  him  with 
us  so  long  as  he  shall  live,  and  that  he  may  never  feel 
the  necessity  of  undue  labor,  it  is  arranged  that  he  shall 
receive  an  income  as  long  as  he  lives,  sufficient  for  his 
necessities.  The  arrangements  regarding  this  are  being 
perfected,  and  will  be  fully  reported  to  you  hereafter. 

Mr.  Bostwick  concluded  by  asking  that  the  whole 
of  this  important  matter  should  receive  the  most 
careful  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  church  ;  and 
that  the  communication  received  from  the  pastor 
should  be  considered  in  the  same  loving  spirit  in 
which  it  was  submitted.  He  suggested,  however,  that 
no  final  action  should  be  taken  at  this  time,  but  that 
the  whole  subject  be  referred  to  the  joint  committee. 

After  several  kind  addresses  had  been  made,  the 
reference  was  moved  and  adopted. 

Doctor  Armitage's  Resignation  Accepted. 
— At  an  adjourned  business  meeting  of  the  church. 


146  REMINISCENCES 

held  May  30,  Mr.  Bostwick  presiding,  the  following 
report  from  the  joint  Board  of  deacons  and  trustees 
was  presented  and  adopted  : 

The  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  resignation 
of  Doctor  Armitage,  as  pastor  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Bap- 
tist Church,  beg  leave  to  report,  that  after  careful  deliber- 
ation and  earnest  examination  of  all  the  reasons  assigned 
for  the  action  taken  by  the  pastor,  and  in  compliance 
with  his  own  personally  expressed  desire,  they  have 
unanimously  agreed  to  recommend  to  the  church,  that 
the  resignation  of  Doctor  Armitage,  as  pastor  of  the 
church,  be  accepted. 

[Signed]  J.  A.  Bostwick,  Chairman, 

H.  W.  Fish,  Secretary. 

Deacon  L.  M.  Lawson  then  offered  a  preamble 
and  resolutions.  The  former  paid  a  glowing,  but 
well-merited,  tribute  to  Doctor  Armitage's  life,  char- 
acter, and  ministry,  during  his  forty  years'  pastor- 
ate. The  latter,  the  resolutions,  which  were  unani- 
mously adopted,  are  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  First.  That  the  church  accept  the  resignation 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage,  d.  d.,  of  the  office  of  pastor, 
to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1889. 

Second.  That  we  extend  to  him  our  sincere  desire  that 
he  may  be  blessed  and  preserved  in  his  temporary 
absence  ;  and  that,  with  all  our  hearts,  we  wish  him 
God-speed  and  a  safe  return,  in  perfect  health,  and  that 
he  carry  with  him  the  assurance  of  our  united  and  un- 
broken  esteem.^     

1  Doctor  Armitage  died  January  20,  1896.  His  body  rests 
in  Sleepy  Hollow  Cemetery. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE   FIFTH    AVENUE   CHUKCH    (CONTINUED) 

SETTLEMENT  of  Doctor  Faunce.— Having 
traced  the  history  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Church 
from  its  organization  in  1841  through  the  pastorate 
of  George  Benedict  and  Thomas  Armitage,  through 
its  career  of  twenty-one  years  in  Norfolk  Street, 
and  its  subsequent  one  of  thirty  years  in  Forty- 
sixth  Street,  closing  with  the  resignation  of  Doc- 
tor Armitage,  it  seems  unnecessary  to  continue  it 
further  than  to  record  the  circumstances  that  led 
to  the  unanimous  call  extended  to  Rev.  W.  H. 
P.  Faunce — then  pastor  of  State  Street  Baptist 
Church  in  Springfield,  Mass. — to  become  his  suc- 
cessor. These  circumstances  were  as  follows:  Im- 
mediately after  action  had  been  taken  on  the  resig- 
nation of  Doctor  Armitage  the  church  appointed  a 
committee,  consisting  of  all  the  deacons  and  trustees, 
to  act  as  a  joint  Board,  with  instructions  to  seek  an 
earnest,  able,  and  devoted  minister  of  Christ,  suit- 
able to  succeed  Doctor  Armitage  in  the  pastorate, 
and  when,  in  their  judgment,  they  should  find  such 
a  man,  to  report  to  the  church.  The  committee — 
consisting  of  George  H.  Hansell,  Benjamin  F.  Jud- 
son,  James  D.  Reid,  John  F.  Comey,    Horace  W. 

147 


148  EEMINISCENCES 

Fish,  and  Walter  T.  Pell,  of  the  Board  of  Deacons ; 
and  Jabez  A.  Bostwick,  William  Bockefeller,  AVal- 
ter  N.  Wood,  John  D.  Rockefeller,  D.  W.  Man- 
waring,  Charles  L.  Colby,  George  N.  Curtis,  John 
F.  Comey,  and  John  F.  Plummer,  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees — organized  for  their  work  .by  electing 
Jabez  A.  Bostwick  (the  president  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees)  chairman,  and  Horace  W.  Fish  (secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Deacons)  secretary.  These  brethren 
applied  themselves  assiduously  to  the  work  entrusted 
to  them  by  the  church,  spending  much  time  and 
making  many  visits  to  distant  cities  to  hear  different 
ministers  whose  names  had  been  suggested  or  had 
occurred  to  them  as  likely  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  church,  taking  especial  care  that  such  minis- 
ters should  be  heard  twice  at  least  by  two  or  three 
members  of  the  committee.  These  efforts  were 
prayerfully  and  faithfully  continued,  with  scarcely 
a  week's  intermission,  until  on  July  10,  1889,  they 
were  able  to  present  a  report  to  the  church,  signed 
by  all  save  one  of  their  number,  recommending  that 
an  invitation  be  extended  to  Rev.  W.  H.  P.  Faunce, 
of  Springfield,  Mass.,  to  become  its  pastor.  The 
report  was  adopted,  and  the  invitation  was  extended 
by  a  unanimous  vote.  After  a  short  time  Mr. 
Faunce  responded,  accepting  the  call,  and  at  the 
midweek  meeting  held  in  the  lecture  room  on 
Wednesday  evening,  October  13,  1889,  he  was 
introduced  to  the  audience  by  the  senior  deacon, 
George  H.  Hansell,  and  entered  at  once  upon  his 


THE    FIFTH    AVENUE    CHURCH  14i) 

pastoral  work.  The  next  Communion  Sunday  the 
hand  of  church-fellowship  was  extended  to  him  by 
Edward  Bright,  D.  D.,  on  behalf  of  the  church, 
and  he  was  thus  publicly  welcomed  and  installed  as 
its  pastor.  In  this  position  his  ministry  has  borne, 
and  is  still  bearing,  distinguishing  marks  of  the 
divine  approval  and  blessing. 

Above  his  tomb  in  St.  PauFs  Cathedral,  London, 
there  are  inscribed  in  Latin  these  words,  referring 
to  Sir  Christopher  Wren  : 

"If  you  would  see  his  monument,  look  around 
you!" 

May  the  day  be  far  distant  when  Dr.  W.  H.  P. 
Faunce  shall  need  a  monument,  but  to  any  visitor 
to  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church  who  shall  ask 
aught  concerning  the  present  success  and  promise 
of  his  ministry  the  response  may  well  be :  "  Look 
around  you  ! ''  ^ 

1  Since  these  words  were  written  Doctor  Faunce  has  received 
and  accepted  a  call  to  become  President  of  Brown  University. 
Reluctantly  the  church  has  given  its  consent  and  will  pray  for 
the  largest  success  as  educator  of  one  who  has  been  so  pre-emi- 
nently useful  as  a  pastor. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE    FIRST    CHURCH     FROM     1841     TO     1897,    AND 
OTHER    CHURCHES 

DOCTOR  CONE'S  pastorate  with  the  First 
Church,  in  Broome  Street,  began  in  1841  and 
continued  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the 
summer  of  1855.  During  the  first  few  years  pros- 
perity and  perfect  harmony  prevailed,  and  the  per- 
sonal relations  between  the  pastor  and  those  who 
came  from  Gold  Street  and  those  w^ho  followed  him 
from  Oliver  Street,  were  all  that  could  be  wished. 
Prominent  among  the  former  were  Deacons  William 
Cooper  and  William  Hillman,  whose  fidelity  to  the 
pastor  and  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  church 
never  faltered.  Wise  in  counsel,  firm  in  their  con- 
victions, and  conservative  in  their  views  of  church 
order  and  discipline,  few  men  have  used  the  office 
they  held  more  effectively,  especially  in  holding  the 
church  together  during  the  long  time  that  they  were 
without  a  pastor.  Deacon  Hillman  survived  Doctor 
Cone  several  years.  In  a  funeral  address,  his  pas- 
tor. Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  D.  Anderson,  alluding  to 
Deacon  Hillman's  long  official  career,  used  the  fol- 
lowing appropriate  words,  "As  a  young  man,  he 
walked  with  William  Parkinson;  as  a  peer,  with 

150 


THE  FIKST  CHUKCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    151 

Spencer  H.  Cone;  as  a  father,  with  Kingman 
Nott.^^ 

Among  those  who  followed  Doctor  Cone  from 
Oliver  Street  were  some  who  afterward  arrayed 
themselves  against  him  and  caused  him  deep  sor- 
row. Doctor  Cone  was  president  of  the  American 
Bible  Union ;  and  here  in  the  First  Church  (as  in 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Church  when  in  Norfolk  Street), 
the  Revision  movement  was  the  burning  question  of 
the  day.  Here  also,  as  there,  it  led  to  bitter  dissen- 
sions and  open  quarrels,  then  to  exclusion  of  mem- 
bers, an  ex  parte  council,  and  the  withdrawal  of 
fellowship  from  a  sister  church  which  had  received 
these  excluded  members  on  the  advice  of  said  coun- 
cil. The  unhappy  breach  thus  begun  continued 
until  about  the  year  1870;  when  the  chief  actors 
having  passed  on  to  a  world  where  dissensions 
never  come — the  survivors  got  tired  of  living  apart, 
and  each  church  that  had  disfellowshiped  another, 
rescinded  its  action,  and  the  two  Baptist  Associa- 
tions to  which  the  estranged  parties  had  respectively 
belonged  were  united,  and  became  The  Southern 
New  York  Baptist  Association,  since  which  time 
the  churches  of  our  Baptist  "Zion^'  have  been 
"  one  and  inseparable,'^  and  hope  to  be  so  ^^  now 
and  forever.'^ 

After  the  death  of  Doctor  Cone,  the  church  was 
without  a  pastor  about  two  years,  when  it  called 
Rev.  A.  Kingman  Nott,  a  young  man  of  superior 
gifts  and  devoted  piety.     He  won  the  hearts  of  the 


152  REMINISCENCES 

people  at  once,  and  during  his  short  ministry  bap- 
tized between  one  hundred  and  two  hundred  con- 
verts, including  many  men  advanced  in  years  who 
had  sat  under  the  preaching  of  William  Parkinson 
and  Spencer  H.  Cone  for  more  than  a  score  of  years, 
seemingly  unmoved. 

It  was  the  lot  of  this  much-loved  young  servant 
of  Christ  to  do  a  great  work  for  his  Lord  in  a  short 
time.  In  May,  1859  the  New  York  Baptist  Asso- 
ciation, to  w^iich  the  First  Church  belonged,  met  at 
Graniteville,  S.  I.  Young  Nott  preached  by  ap- 
pointment the  annual  sermon,  which  was  listened  to 
w^ith  absorbing  interest.  He  was  then  in  excellent 
health  and  seemingly  had  the  promise  of  an  ex- 
tended as  well  as  useful  service.  But  w^e  know 
little  Avhat  is  before  us.  On  the  following  July, 
w^hile  on  a  visit  to  some  relatives,  he  was  drowned 
while  bathing.  As  he  was  known  to  be  a  good 
swimmer  it  is  supposed  that  he  was  seized  with 
cramps.  The  Lord  gave  him  to  the  church  for  a 
while  and  then  took  him  to  himself,  deeply  mourned 
by  all ;  his  sudden  death  came  to  the  church  and 
congregation  to  which  he  ministered  as  an  over- 
whelming sorrow. 

After  the  death  of  their  lamented  young  pastor 
the  First  Church  called  Thomas  D.  Anderson,  d.  d. 
as  pastor.  Doctor  Anderson  was  a  man  of  fine 
presence,  highly  polished  manners,  a  very  able 
preacher,  and  a  deservedly  popular  man,  not  only 
in  his  own,  but  among  all  Christians  denominations. 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    1  53 

During  his  pastorate  the  church  sold  its  property  in 
Broome  Street  and  removed  to  Thirty-ninth  Street 
and  Park  Avenue,  where  an  elegant  edifice  was 
erected  in  which  was  placed  an  open  marble  bap- 
tistery, said  to  have  cost  one  thousand  dollars,  a 
present  to  the  church.  Doctor  Anderson  resigned 
the  pastorate  of  the  church  to  accept  a  call  from  a 
church  in  South  Boston,  Mass.  He  was  little  past 
the  meridian  of  life,  when  he  was  called  to  his  man- 
sion above. 

The  next  pastor  in  the  First  Church  was  John 
Peddie,  d.  d.  He  was  called  from  the  Second 
Church  of  Chicago,  and  though  his  pastorate  was 
short,  by  his  winning  personality  and  earnest  man- 
ner he  made  many  friends.  He  resigned  to  accept 
the  pastorate  of  the  Fifth  Baptist  Church  of  Phila- 
delphia. On  his  resignation  the  church  extended 
a  call  to  Rev.  I.  M.  Haldeman,  its  present  pastor, 
whose  acceptance  inaugurated  an  era  of  great  suc- 
cess. 

In  1890  the  church  sold  the  property  on  Thirty- 
ninth  Street  and  Park  Avenue  for  two  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  shortly  afterward  hired 
the  use  of  All  Angel's  Chapel,  where  the  congrega- 
tion worshiped  until  they  entered  the  lecture  room 
of  the  elegant  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Boulevard 
and  Seventy-ninth  Street,  which  they  now  occupy. 
This  church  has  had  many  noble  workers  who  have 
passed  on  to  the  unseen  land,  including  two  genera- 
tions of  the  Hillmans,  the  Durbrows,  the  Todds, 


154  REMINISCENCES 

the  Hayes,  and  the  widely  known  and  venerated 
deacon,  Joseph  Brokaw.  In  this  church  too,  Dea- 
con Smith  Sheldon,  well  known  as  the  head  of  the 
large  publishing  house  of  Sheldon  &  Company,  and 
as  an  active  manager  in  nearly  all  our  denomina- 
tional societies,  spent  the  latest  years  of  his  euer- 
getic  and  busy  life,  having  previously  served  as  a 
deacon  in  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Madison  Avenue 
Churches.  Among  its  present  leaders  are  many 
besides  its  pastor,  "  whose  works  praise  them." 
Mr.  Haldeman  preaches  to  large  and  delighted 
audiences,  who  with  common  consent,  ascribe  to 
him  not  only  eminent  talent,  but  something  rarer 
still,  genius.  The  present  membership  of  the 
church  is  four  hundred  and  sixty-five. 

A  brief  mention  of  New  York  Baptist  churches 
of  an  early  date  which  have  been  hitherto  over- 
looked, and  an  equally  brief  record  of  those  which 
have  been  organized  in  later  years,  must  serve  to 
bring  these  reminiscences  to  a  close.  Of  the 
churches  that  have  been  omitted,  the  Sixth  Street 
Church  is  the  first  that  should  be  noticed.  This 
church  was  organized  February  15,  1840.  Its  first 
meeting-house  was  in  Sixth  Street,  not  far  from  the 
East  River,  and  its  first  pastor  was  Rev.  John  O. 
Choules.  Among  the  pastors  who  succeeded  him 
were  Revs.  John  T.  Seeley,  C.  Billings  Smith,  Lem- 
uel Covell,  Chas.  C.  Norton,  E.  F.  Crane,  James 
Dubois,  Henry  Angell,  and  Daniel  C.  Potter.  Rev. 
John  T.  Seeley,  the  second  pastor  of  the  church,  re- 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    155 

signed  his  charge  in  1852  after  having  done  a  good 
work.  He  had  a  loving,  genial  disposition,  and  his 
removal  to  another  field  of  labor  was  greatly  re- 
gretted. It  was  during  Mr.  Seeley^s  pastorate  that 
the  new  meeting-house  was  erected,  and  it  was 
mainly  due  to  his  exertions  and  wise  direction  tliat 
the  building  enterprise  was  accomplished.  It  has 
more  than  once  been  noticed  that  a  minister's  suc- 
cess in  building  a  new  house  of  worship  has  been 
quickly  followed  by  his  resignation  of  the  pastorate. 
Why  ?  Let  those  answer  who  can.  The  fact  is 
undeniable.  After  the  brief  pastorate  of  Rev.  C. 
Billings  Smith  and  Rev.  Lemuel  Covell,  one  year 
each,  Rev.  Chas.  C.  Norton  served  the  church  eight 
years  with  great  success.  He  then  resigned  to  ac- 
cept the  call  of  the  Yorkville  (afterward  Eighty- 
third  Street  and  now  Central  Park)  Baptist  Church, 
where  he  labored  nearly  forty  years,  until  failing 
health  compelled  him  to  resign  and  accept  the  posi- 
tion of  pastor  emeritus.  He  was  followed  in  the 
Sixth  Street  Church  by  brethren  Crane,  Dubois, 
and  Angell,  already  named;  and  in  1873  by  Rev. 
D.  C.  Potter.  In  1885  the  church  united  with  the 
Tabernacle  Church  in  Second  Avenue,  and  in  1886 
Doctor  Potter's  name  appears  in  the  Minutes  of  The 
Southern  New  York  Baptist  Association  as  the  pas- 
tor of  that  church.  Doctor  Norton  has  since  gone 
to  his  rest  and  reward.  The  present  pastor  is  Rev. 
Harry  M.  Warren.  Present  membership  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six. 


156  REMINISCENCES 

The  Central  Church,  now  located  in  Forty-second 
Street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues,  was 
organized  in  1843  as  the  Bloomingdale  Baptist 
Church.  Its  first  meeting-house  was  erected  on 
the  corner  of  Eighth  Avenue  and  Forty-third  Street 
in  1844.  Its  second  pastor  was  Rev.  Stephen  Wil- 
kins,  a  plain,  unpolished,  but  able  preacher,  who 
accomplished  much  good,  not  only  in  the  church  to 
which  he  ministered,  but  also  in  aiding  his  brother 
ministers  in  special  meetings.  The  Norfolk  Street 
Church  was  his  debtor  for  services  of  this  character. 
The  Central  Church  erected  its  present  house  of 
worship  in  1863  and  assumed  its  present  name  in 
1868.  This  church  has  had  many  able  ministers, 
among  them  Isaac  Westcott,  D.  D.,  J.  D.  Herr, 
D.  D.,  Henry  M.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  W.  W. 
AYalker.  Its  present  efficient  pastor  is  Rev.  F.  M. 
Goodchild.  Among  its  active  officers  and  financial 
helpers  have  been  Richard  Mott,  Thomas  R.  Harris, 
and  others  Vvho  have  passed  away,  and  James 
Pyle,  A.  W.  Parsons,  J.  W.  Perry,  Wm.  McBride, 
and  others  among  the  living.  Its  present  member- 
ship is  five  hundred  and  fifty-five. 

The  Memorial  Church  of  Christ,  Washington 
Square,  South,  was  organized  in  1838  as  the  Berean 
Baptist  Church  of  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was 
an  offshoot  of  the  North  Beriah  Baptist  Church. 
Its  first  pastor  was  Aaron  Perkins,  D.  D.,  and  its 
first  house  of  worship  Avas  a  small  brick  meeting- 
house in  King  Street,  near  Yarick.     Its  constituent 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    157 

members  were  only  twenty-one  in  number.  Doctor 
Perkins  served  the  church  six  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  John  Dowling,  D.  D.  The  church  now 
moved  to  a  new  meeting-house  with  parsonage 
adjoining.  In  1850  Dr.  Dowling  resigned  to  be- 
come pastor  of  a  church  in  Philadelphia.  The 
subsequent  pastors  of  the  Berean  Church  were  Rev. 
James  R.  Stone,  from  1850  to  1852;  Rev.  John 
A.  McKean,  from  1852  to  1855;  John  Dowling, 
D.  D.  (second  pastorate),  from  1856  to  1869;  Rev. 
Philip  L.  Davies,  from  March,  1870,  until  his  death 
in  July,  1875;  Rev.  Luther  G.  Barrett,  from  1875 
to  1877;  Rev.  John  Quincy  Adams,  from  Novem- 
ber, 1877,  until  his  death,  July  27,  1881. 

Edward  Judson,  d.  d.,  became  pastor  of  the 
Berean  Church  in  October,  1881.  The  church 
occupied  the  old  meeting-house  in  Bedford  Street 
until  February  1,  1891,  nearly  fifty  years  from  the 
date  of  its  dedication  to  God.  In  1885,  a  reorgani- 
zation having  taken  place  under  the  law  of  May  15, 
1876,  the  corporate  name  was  changed  to  The 
Berean  Baptist  Church  of  Christ  in  New  York,  and 
January  23,  1891  (being  about  to  enter  their  new 
church  edifice  on  Washington  Square),  the  church 
assumed  the  name  by  which  it  is  henceforth  to  be 
known,  The  Memorial  Baptist  Church  of  Christ  in 
New  York.  The  present  buildings  were  erected  as 
a  memorial  of  Adoniram  Judson,  the  first  American 
Baptist  missionary  to  Burma.  The  present  mem- 
bership is  one  thousand  and  seventy-four.     Doctor 


1 58  REMINISCENCES 

Judson  is  doing  a  varied  and  vital  work,  and  is 
helping  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  downtown 
church. 

Bethesda  Baptist  Church.  When  Doctor  Parkin- 
son resigned  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Cliurch  it 
was — as  learned  from  a  friend  who  had  access  to 
his  papers  after  his  death — his  intention  to  retire 
from  the  pastoral  office,  but  to  continue  the  cus- 
tomary addresses  from  the  steps  of  City  Hall  on 
Sunday  afternoons,  chiefly  to  the  unconverted. 
Here  he  sometimes  spoke  to  one  thousand  people. 
After  a  while,  however,  a  number  of  the  members 
of  the  First  Church  who  did  not  wish  to  go  "up- 
town"— as  Broome  Street  was  then  considered  to 
be — drew  off  from  the  parent  church  and  started  a 
new  interest  under  the  name  of  Bethesda  Church. 
These  friends  worshiped  in  a  hall  in  Crosby  Street, 
and  entreated  Doctor  Parkinson  to  become  their 
pastor.  Their  entreaties  finally  prevailed.  This 
pastorate  was  of  short  duration.  Doctor  Parkinson 
was  laboring  under  the  weight  of  years ;  his  facul- 
ties failed,  and  he  was  soon  compelled  to  give  up  all 
public  duties.  The  church  then  called  Rev.  C.  J. 
Hopkins.  I  do  not  remember  how  long  Mr.  Hop- 
kins served  the  church,  but  on  his  resignation,  or 
shortly  after,  the  church  changed  its  location  to  the 
corner  of  Chrystie  and  Delancy  Streets,  and  called 
Eev.  Mr.  Baldwin  to  become  their  pastor.  What 
followed  on  Mr.  Baldwin's  leaving  and  going  to  a 
church  in  another  State  I  do  not  distinctly  remem- 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    159 

ber,  but  eventually  the  congregation  moved  to  East 
Twenty-second  Street  and  called  Rev.  Samuel  J. 
Knapp,  who,  after  a  successful  pastorate  of  several 
years,  was  followed  by  Wm.  H.  Pendleton,  d.  d., 
and  others. 

The  Union  Baptist  Church,  on  Fourth  Avenue, 
was  organized  in  1847,  and  Rev.  O.  B.  Judd  became 
pastor.  The  church  was  admitted  into  the  Hudson 
River  Baptist  Association  in  1848.  In  their  letter 
to  that  Association  in  1849,  they  record  an  increase 
of  four  by  baptism  and  six  by  letter,  a  total  mem- 
bership of  sixty-two,  and  general  prosperity.  This 
year  (1849)  they  secured  a  permanent  place  of  wor- 
ship. In  1851  they  reported  to  the  Association  an 
increase  of  five  by  baptism  and  eleven  by  letter,  with 
three  dismissals  by  letter ;  total  members,  seventy- 
five;  and  that  Rev.  D.  S.  Parmely  was  pastor. 
Their  former  pastor,  Rev.  O.  B.  Judd,  had  resigned 
for  the  purpose  of  editing  the  New  Yo7'k  Chronicle, 
During  1852,  under  Mr.  Parmely's  pastorate,  their 
numbers  increased  to  ninety-two,  and  in  1853  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight.  In  1854,  with  Mr. 
Parmely  still  pastor,  they  report  a  total  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one,  and  speak  of  an  encouraging 
progress  financially  and  spiritually.  In  1856,  Rev. 
Jay  S.  Backus,  pastor,  they  report  an  increase  of 
nine ;  dismissal  by  letter,  thirty-six ;  present  num- 
ber, one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  They  have 
been  sorely  tried  by  removals  and  death,  regret  the 
removal  of  their  last  pastor,  and  hope  to  increase 


160  REMINISCENCES 

under  their  present  leader.  No  letter  in  1857.  I 
find  no  record  of  the  Union  Baptist  Church  after 
that  date. 

The  First  Mariners'  Baptist  Church  was  organ- 
ized in  1843  as  the  Baptist  Seaman's  Bethel.  It 
was  the  outcome  of  the  efforts  made  by  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  North  Beriah  Baptist  Church,  led  by 
Mrs.  C.  A.  Putnam,  a  highly  gifted  and  large- 
hearted  lady  who  seemed  peculiarly  drawn  to  devise 
something  for  this  class  of  generous,  brave,  but 
neglected  men.  Mr.  Isaac  Townsend  Smith,  a  son- 
in-law  of  Mrs.  Putnam,  agreed  to  take  temporary 
charge  of  this  missionary  work,  and  quickly  found 
himself  so  deeply  absorbed  in  it  that  he  devoted  to 
it  nine  years  of  his  life.  A  hall  was  hired  in  Catha- 
rine Street,  near  Cherry,  where  regular  preaching 
was  soon  established.  A  few  years  later,  the  First 
Baptist  Meeting-house  for  Mariners  was  erected  in 
Cherry  Street,  near  Pike,  and  the  work  was  put  in 
charge  of  Elder  Ira  R.  Steward,  a  man  of  deep 
piety  and  a  genius  for  hard  work.  His  memory  is 
still  in  the  hearts  of  older  Baptists  in  this  city.  Out 
of  this  church  came  our  German  and  Swedish 
missions,  both  at  home  and  in  Europe.  Here  New 
York  Baptists  made  their  first  acquaintance  with 
John  G.  Oncken  and  others  who  had  suffered  im- 
prisonment and  loss  of  goods  in  their  own  countries 
for  the  cause  of  Christ.  The  church  is  now  located 
in  Oliver  Street,  on  the  corner  of  Henry,  in  the 
house  of  worship    that    formerly  belonged   to    the 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    161 

Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church.  Here  the  beloved 
and  lamented  Avery  labored  and  laid  down  his  life 
for  the  Master  and  for  seamen.  The  Mariners' 
Temple,  as  it  is  now  called,  is  sacred  to  the  memory 
of  Mrs.  Nathan  Bishop,  Deacon  William  A.  Can  Id- 
well,  and  other  friends,  by  whose  large  contributions 
the  work  was  sustained  and  enlarged.  They  have 
gone  to  labor  in  a  yet  higher  sphere.  But  the  work 
does  not  cease  when  the  workmen  depart.  Wm.  M. 
Isaacs  and  other  noble  men  and  women  associated 
with  him  are  bearing  the  burden  which  others  laid 
down.  The  present  pastor  of  the  Mariners'  Temple 
is  Rev.  M.  G.  Coger,  who  has  but  recently  entered 
upon  his  work.  The  field  is  a  difficult  one  to  cul- 
tivate, and  continually  becomes  more  so,  but  the 
workers  have  warm  hearts  and  busy  hands,  and 
Grod  is  with  them.  The  present  membership  is  two 
hundred  and  seventeen. 

The  Mount  Morris  Baptist  Church,  William  C. 
Bitting,  D.  D.,  pastor,  was  organized  in  1844,  as  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  Harlem.  It  was  formerly 
much  rent  by  dissensions,  but  it  is  happily  united 
under  its  present  pastor,  and  has  long  been  one  of 
the  most  active  churches  in  every  department  of 
home  work,  as  well  as  a  large  contributor  to  all  our 
missionary,  educational,  and  benevolent  enterprises. 
From  having  been  heavily  in  debt,  it  now,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  on  its  truly  heroic  labors,  owns  the 
beautiful  church  edifice  on  Fifth  Avenue,  near  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-seventh  Street,  where  large 


162  REMIN ISCENCES 

audiences  listen  regularly  to  the  earnest,  pungent 
preaching  of  the  pastor,  and  the  ingathering  of  souls 
is  large  and  continuous.  Among  the  noble  men 
who  have  helped  to  bear  the  "  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day  ^^  in  this  church,  who  have  been  with  it 
through  good  and  evil  report,  it  is  pleasant  to  record 
the  names  of  Dr.  T.  Franklyn  Smith,  Stephen  H. 
Burr,  Edward  S.  Clinch,  Jed  E.  Adams,  and  other 
faithful  soldiers,  ever  found  "with  the  harness  on" 
The  total  membership  is  one  thousand  and  seventy- 
three. 

The  Central  Park  Baptist  Church,  East  Eighty- 
third  Street,  was  constituted  as  the  Yorkville  Bap- 
tist Church,  in  1854.  Among  its  first  pastors  was 
Rev.  Joseph  Ballard,  once  well  known  in  this  city 
as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Colby  &  Ballard,  pub- 
lishers of  "  The  New  York  Recorder."  This  is  where 
the  late  Rev.  Charles  C.  Norton,  d.  d.,  preached  for 
nearly  forty  years.  It  is  now  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Rev.  Harry  M.  Warren.  It  is  the  second 
church  that  has  borne  the  same  name.  The  first 
was  in  West  Fifty-third  Street,  Rev.  Peter  F. 
Jones,  pastor,  and  was  disbanded  in  1859,  when 
forty-three  of  its  members  deposited  their  letters 
with  the  Fifth  Avenue  (then  Norfolk  Street)  Church. 
The  late  J.  L.  Hodge,  d.  d.,  also  served  this  church 
several  years.  The  present  membership  is  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six. 

The  Ascension  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in 
May,  1864,  under  the  name  of  The  Trustees  of  the 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    163 

Melrose  Mission  Baptist  Society.  It  was  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  J.  Ferris  Patton,  a  Baptist,  then  in  the 
employ  of  the  trustees.  It  assumed  its  present 
name  in  1887,  and  is  now  under  the  pastoral  care 
of  Rev.  Mitchell  Bronk.  The  membership  is  one 
hundred  and  three. 

The  People's  Baptist  Church  was  organized  as 
the  Fifty-third  Street  People's  Church,  in  1881. 
It  assumed  its  present  name  March  28,  1884,  and 
now  worships  in  West  Forty-seventh  Street,  near 
Ninth  Avenue. 

Hope  Baptist  Church,  corner  of  One  Hundred 
and  Fourth  Street  and  Boulevard,  was  organized 
June  9,  1885,  Rev.  Richard  Hartley,  pastor,  as 
the  Laight  Street  Baptist  Church.  It  assumed  its 
present  name  January  8,  1889.  The  Laight  Street 
Church,  organized  in  1885,  was  the  second  church 
of  that  name.  The  first  Laight  Street  Baptist 
Church  was  founded  in  1842  or  1843,  and  its  first 
pastor  was  W.  W.  Everts.  The  membership  is  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight. 

The  Emmanuel  Baptist  Church,  Suffolk  Street, 
near  Grand,  was  organized  in  1873,  as  the  Second 
Baptist  Mission  Church,  Rev.  Samuel  Alman,  pas- 
tor. The  first  meetings  of  this  body  were  held  in  a 
loft  in  the  upper  part  of  Madison  or  Monroe  Street. 
Brother  Alman,  a  son  of  Abraham  after  the  flesh, 
after  cruising  around  the  world  as  a  sailor,  had 
been  converted,  and  united  by  baptism  with  the 
Central  Park  Church,  Rev.  C.  C.  Norton,  pastor. 


164  REMINISCENCES 

He  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  late  Deacon 
Benj.  F.  Judson,  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  who  introduced  him  to  the  late  Mr.  J.  A. 
Bostwick,  who  kindly  pledged  one  thousand  two 
hundred  dollars  to  pay  Mr.  Alman's  salary,  as  a 
missionary,  for  one  year.  It  was  a  hard  field  where 
he  began  his  work,  and  the  policeman  stationed 
there  often  failed  to  keep  order;  but  Mr.  Alman 
was  equal  to  the  emergency.  He  took  the  work  of 
keeping  the  peace  into  his  own  hands,  and  so  effect- 
ively, that  the  roughs  soon  learned  to  let  him  and 
his  congregation  alone.  After  a  while  the  mission 
was  removed  to  Grand  Street,  corner  of  Clinton 
Street,  then  to  Grand,  corner  of  Allen  Street,  then 
to  Stanton  Street.  Large  audiences  collected,  and 
conversions  were  frequent.  Mr.  Bostwick's  interest 
in  Mr.  Alman  and  his  work  increased,  until  he  felt 
constrained  to  erect  and  equip  the  house  of  worship 
in  Suffolk  Street,  near  Grand,  where  the  church  is 
still  maintained  under  the  supervision  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Baptist  Church,  to  which  Mr.  Bostwick 
deeded  the  property  in  trust,  on  the  condition  that  a 
Baptist  church  shall  be  sustained  there,  or  in  that 
vicinity,  for  fifty  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
time  the  Fifth  Avenue  Church  becomes  absolute 
owner  of  the  property.  This  munificent  gift  cost  in 
the  first  outlay  ninety-five  thousand  dollars,  which 
sum  was  continually  supplemented  by  the  donor, 
until  it  took  the  shape  of  an  endowment,  to  be  ad- 
ministered  by  the  trustees    of  the  Fifth  Avenue 


E"'^,    V        ** 

^^ 

.fli         V 

1^ 

■jTjIp 

^^ 

dt-:acon  benj.  r.  judson. 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    165 

Church.  Since  Mr.  Bostwick^s  death,  Mrs.  Bost- 
wick  has  manifested  her  deep  interest  in  Mr.  Alman 
and  his  work,  by  liberal  benefactions.  Some  two 
years  ago,  Mr.  Alman  lost  the  use  of  his  voice,  and 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  city  to  obtain  professional 
treatment.  Although  he  returned  to  the  field  and 
again  occupied  his  pulpit,  the  improvement  was  of 
short  duration,  and  he  has  been  compelled  to  retire 
permanently  from  the  ministry,  to  his  great  disap- 
pointment and  the  regret  of  all  his  friends. 

During  Mr.  Alman's  absence,  the  trustees  of  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Church  engaged  the  services  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Colgate,  Jr.,  w^ho  had  just  given  himself  to 
the  gospel  ministry,  and  whose  heart's  desire  was  to 
spend  his  life  laboring  among  the  poor.  He  entered 
this  field  with  strong  hopes,  but  soon  was  overtaken 
by  a  severe  illness  which  for  a  long  time  threatened 
his  life.  Although  his  life  was  graciously  spared, 
his  return  to  his  wonted  work  was  made  impossible 
by  his  change  of  denominational  views.  Rev.  Mr. 
Murch  was  next  engaged  on  the  field,  which  posi- 
tion he  occupied  until  Mr.  Alman  returned.  At 
present,  the  trustees  are  looking  for  a  pastor  for 
the  Emmanuel  Church,  the  membership  of  which 
is  one  hundred  and  forty-five. 

The  Tremont  Baptist  Church,  Rev.  Jonathan 
Barstow,  pastor,  was  organized  in  1884.  Mr.  Bar- 
stow  has  spent  five  years  on  this  field.  The  church 
has  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  members,  of  whom 
nine  were  baptized  during  1898.     A  good  work  is 


166  REMINISCENCES 

being  quietly  done,  the  membership  being  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-one. 

The  Lexington  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  corner  of 
One  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Street,  J.  L.  Camp- 
bell, D.  D.,  pastor,  was  organized  in  1867  as  the 
Second  Baptist  Church  of  Harlem,  and  was  for 
several  years  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  late 
Halsey  Moore,  d.  d.,  under  whose  ministry  a  large 
church  was  gathered.  Dr.  Campbell's  pastorate 
began  in  1888,  and  the  church  has  now  (1898) 
nine  hundred  members.  The  pastor  is  greatly  be- 
loved, and  the  church  is  united  and  prosperous. 

The  Alexander  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  corner 
of  One  Hundred  and  Forty-first  Street,  was  organ- 
ized in  1872  as  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  North 
New  York.  It  assumed  its  present  name  in  De- 
cember, 1888.  The  location  is  very  pleasant,  but 
they  sadly  need  a  new  church  edifice.  This  church 
has  had  many  able  pastors  and  efficient  laymen  who 
have  done  good  w^ork.  Several  of  the  latter,  among 
whom  were  Deacons  Peck  and  Carley,  have  passed 
on  to  their  reward.  When  the  church  was  without 
a  pastor  its  pulpit  was  frequently  supplied  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  Lay-preaching  Association. 
Among  its  earlier  pastors,  the  writer  remembers 
Rev.  Messrs.  Castle,  Scott,  and  Hudson,  all  able 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  present  member- 
ship is  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven. 

The  Grace  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  1885. 
There  have  been  two  churches  with  that  name.    The 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    167 


first  originated  in  the  departure  of  a  few  members 
of  the  Pilgrim  Baptist  Church,  in  West  Thirty-third 
Street,  led  by  Kev.  J.  Spencer  Kennard  the  pastor, 
but  the  enterprise  proved  a  failure,  and  the  body 
disbanded  in  about  a  year.  The  Second  Grace 
Church  was  ably  and  heroically  led  by  T.  K.  Gess- 
ler,  D.  D.,  for  about  eleven  years,  first  meeting  in  a 
church  edifice  on  Ninety-third  Street,  between  Lex- 
ington and  Park  Avenues,  and  afterward  for  several 
years  in  St.  Nicholas  Avenue,  but  the  struggle  was 
too  great  even  for  one  possessing  Doctor  Gessler^s 
courage.  In  1896,  in  its  last  annual  letter  to  the 
Association,  the  church  reported  a  membership  of 
one  hundred  and  twelve  residents  and  nineteen  non- 
residents, six  of  the  former  having  been  baptized 
during  the  preceding  year.  In  1897  the  church 
abandoned  the  effort  to  maintain  a  separate  exist- 
ence and  cast  in  its  lot  with  the  Washington  Heights 
Baptist  Church.  This  was  done  by  authorizing 
their  church  clerk  to  issue  individual  letters  to  all 
who  desired  to  unite  with  that  church.  Forty-three 
did  so. 

The  Baptist  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  West  One 
Hundred  and  Thirty-first  Street,  between  Lenox  and 
Seventh  Avenues,  was  organized  in  1883.  It  re- 
ports to  the  Association,  in  1897,  two  hundred  and 
eighty-one  members,  of  whom  eighteen  were  received 
by  baptism  and  fifteen  by  letter  during  that  year. 
The  church  feels  deeply  the  loss  of  their  pastor, 
Rev.  E.  E.  Knapp,  who  has  resigned,  feeling  him- 


168  REMINISCENCES 

self  called  to  engage  in  evangelistic  labor.  At  the 
same  time  they  give  a  hearty  welcome  to  Rev.  W. 
Frank  St.  John  their  present  pastor.  The  present 
membership  is  two  hundred  and  ninety. 

Trinity  Church,  East  Fifty-fifth  Street,  near  Lex- 
ington Avenue,  Rev.  James  W.  Putnam,  pastor. 
This  church  was  organized  as  a  Baptist  church  in 
1857.  The  church  edifice  was  formerly  owned  by 
another  denomination,  but  for  some  reason  came  to 
be  for  sale.  The  late  Rev.  Sidney  A.  Corey  who 
had  Qi  penchant  for  dealing  in  church  real  estate,  be- 
lieving it  was  a  good  location  for  a  Baptist  church, 
became  the  purchaser.  But  the  property  changed 
hands  more  than  once  and  many  years  elapsed  ere 
these  expectations  were  realized.  Among  the  early 
pastors  of  this  church  were  Rev.  J.  S.  Holme  and 
Rev.  James  B.  Simmons.  During  the  pastorate  of 
Doctor  Simmons,  a  great  work  was  done  for  our 
Chinese  brethren  through  the  labors  of  Mrs.  Carto, 
who  was  sustained  in  part  by  the  City  Baptist  Mis- 
sion, as  its  missionary  to  that  people,  visiting  them 
at  their  laundries,  where  she  was  always  joyfully 
received.  Trinity  Church  became  through  her  a 
Chinese  home  where  she  entertained  many  China- 
men and  taught  them  on  Sunday  afternoons  and 
provided  them  with  tea,  thus  securing  further  op- 
portunity for  instruction  and  likewise  their  presence 
at  the  evening  service.  Mrs.  Carto  was  the  widow 
of  a  Baptist  minister  in  California,  and  began  her 
work  for  this   people  on  the  Pacific   slope,  finishing 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    169 

it  in  this  city.  She  still  lives,  honored  and  be- 
loved, but  too  enfeebled  for  active  labor.  Many  of 
those  whom  she  won  to  Christ  are  now  telling  the 
story  of  the  cross  in  their  own  country.  The  total 
membership  is  one  hundred.  This  church  has  just 
(1899)  sold  its  property  and  united  with  the  Baptist 
Church  of  the  Epiphany. 

Morningside  Church.  This  church  is  situated  on 
One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth  Street  between  Seventh 
and  Eighth  Avenues,  and  has  Rev.  D.  A.  Mac- 
Murray  for  its  pastor.  It  was  organized  in  1894, 
and  has  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  resident 
and  thirty-eight  non-resident  members,  of  whom 
eleven  were  baptized  and  twenty-two  received  by 
letter  during  the  year  1897.  It  has  had  but  one 
pastor,  the  present  one.  The  present  membership 
is  one  hundred  and  sixty-six. 

Riverside  Church.  This  church  is  situated  at 
Ninety-second  Street,  corner  of  Amsterdam  Avenue, 
Rev.  James  A.  Francis,  pastor.  It  was  organized 
in  1879.  The  church  and  congregation  have  erected 
a  beautiful  and  convenient  house  of  worship.  To 
help  them  pay  for  the  same,  the  New  York  City 
Baptist  Mission  Society  pledged  to  them  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  of  which  amount  six  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  had  been  paid,  and  the  balance  is 
expected  the  present  year.  The  church  has  a  mem- 
bership of  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  Mr. 
Francis  was  the  fourth  pastor ,  and  had  faithfully 
served  the  church  six  years,  when  he  resigned  to 


170  REMINISCENCES 

take  charge  of  the  newly  formed  Second  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  in  Second  Avenue,  between  Tenth 
and  Eleventh  Streets,  where  he  is  doing  a  good 
work.  Shortly  after  his  resignation,  Riverside 
Church  was  successful  in  securing  the  services  of 
Rev.  Robert  Bruce  Smith,  who  is  laboring  with 
great  success.  The  general  interests  of  the  church 
are  hopeful  and  conversions  are  occurring  con- 
stantly. 

The  Beth  Eden  Church.  This  church,  located  on 
Lorillard  Avenue,  was  organized  in  1881.  It  has 
seventy-six  resident  and  eleven  non-resident  mem- 
bers. Its  first  pastor  was  Rev.  J.  B.  English.  He 
resigned  in  1897  to  accept  a  call  from  a  church  in 
De  Land,  Florida,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  W.  F. 
Johnson.     The  membership  is  ninety-three. 

The  Mount  Gilead  Church.  This  church  is  situ- 
ated at  104  East  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-sixth 
Street,  with  Rev.  B.  W.  Walker  as  pastor.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  1891.  It  had  two  hundred  members,  of 
whom  fourteen  were  baptized  in  1897.  No  report 
in  1898. 

Sharon  Church,  Eighty-ninth  Street,  corner  of 
Park  Avenue.  Rev.  G.  W.  Bailey,  pastor,  reports 
one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  members. 

The  Mount  Olivet  Church.  This  church,  Fifty- 
third  Street,  near  Eighth  Avenue,  Rev.  Daniel  W. 
Wisher,  pastor,  has  had  a  truly  marvelous  history. 
It  was  organized  in  1878  with  about  twenty  mem- 
bers, and  in  1897  it  reported  a  membership  of  one 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    171 

thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-two.  It  has 
had  but  one  pastor  during  these  years;  has  raised 
and  paid  for  current  expenses  during  the  past  year 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  dollars, 
and  for  repairs  and  improvements  on  church  prop- 
erty five  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-one  dol- 
lars, making  a  total  expenditure  of  nine  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  ninety-three  dollars.  The  esti- 
mated value  of  their  church  property  is  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  thousand  dollars,  subject  to  a  mort- 
gage of  ten  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  and  a 
floating  debt  of  six  hundred  dollars,  leavmg  them 
an  equity  in  their  property  of  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  thousand  nine  hundred  dollars.  The  re- 
sults exhibited  have  grown,  under  the  blessing  of 
God,  out  of  the  following  circumstances,  viz  :  About 
twenty  years  ago  a  few  members  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Baptist  Church  went  on  invitation,  on 
Sunday  afternoons,  to  talk  to  a  small  congregation 
of  colored  friends  in  an  upper  room  in  West  Twenty- 
sixth  Street,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues. 
Among  these  brethren  was  the  late  Sydney  Root,  of 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  who,  having  lived  in  the  South,  took 
great  interest  in  her  children  of  African  descent. 
Mr.  Root  gained  the  entire  confidence  of  the  colored 
friends  at  once,  and  soon  learned  that  the  majority 
of  them  were  members  of  Baptist  churches  in  the 
South,  but,  these  churches  having  disbanded  or 
scattered  during  the  Civil  War,  they  did  not  know 
how  to  procure  letters  of  dismission.     After  much 


172  REMINISCENCES 

correspondence  with  friends  at  the  South,  Mr.  Root 
succeeded  in  obtaining  good  letters  for  nineteen  of 
the  number,  who  were  shortly  afterw^ard  constituted 
and  recognized  as  a  regular  and  independent  Baptist 
church,  and  called  Mr.  Wisher  to  become  their  pas- 
tor, at  a  salary  of  twenty  dollars  a  month.  As  this 
was  all  they  were  able  to  pay.  Brother  Wisher  was 
forced  to  eke  out  a  living  by  plying  his  calling  as  a 
whitewasher.  A  better  mutual  arrangement  could 
not  have  been  made.  The  little  church  stood  nobly 
by  their  pastor;  the  pastor  was  laboriously  devoted 
to  his  church,  and  the  divine  blessing  followed  him 
in  both  his  sacred  and  secular  calling  so  long  as 
the  latter  continued  to  be  necessary,  which  neces- 
sity ceased  many  years  ago.  Mr.  Wisher  has  been 
ably  assisted  in  church  affairs  by  a  faithful  Board 
of  deacons,  and  in  the  management  of  financial 
affairs  by  an  able  Board  of  trustees  composed  in  part 
of  white  brethren  from  other  churches,  and  has  thus 
been  free  to  give  himself  to  prayer,  the  ministry  of 
the  word,  and  the  culture  of  his  mind,  in  which,  as 
all  who  have  listened  to  him  in  the  pulpit  or  from 
the  platform  know,  his  efforts  have  been  as  successful 
as  thorough.  The  Mount  Olivet  Church  has  been 
and  is  as  a  ^^ tower  of  strength'^  to  this  advancing 
and  progressive  race  through  the  whole  length  and 
breadth  of  our  common  country.  Let  God  be 
praised !  Many  of  our  city  churches  of  the  colored 
race  may  still  be  weak,  but  they  are  all  stronger 
than  they  would  be  but  for  the  Mount  Olivet  Church. 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    173 

While  the  disturbances  that  have  occurred  since 
the  above  was  written  afford  humiliating  evidence 
of  the  remains  of  sin  in  our  poor  humanity,  and  are 
to  be  deeply  deplored,  yet  we  believe  the  faithful 
and  self-sacrificing  work  which  this  church  has  done 
for  Christ  and  the  people  of  their  race  in  the  past 
will  not  be  forgotten  of  God.  The  membership  in 
1898  is  given  as  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
five. 

The  Carmel  Church.  This  church  is  situated  at 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  Street,  between  Ave- 
nues Second  and  Third,  and  was  organized  in  1882. 
In  1884  reported  as  having  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  members,  forty-six  of  whom  were  baptized 
during  the  previous  year.  No  pastor  and  no  report 
since  that  year. 

The  Day  Star  Church,  Amsterdam  Avenue,  Rev. 
A.  B.  Brown,  pastor,  organized  in  1889,  had  one 
hundred  and  three  members  in  1897,  the  present 
number  being  one  hundred  and  twenty-six. 

The  First  Swedish .  Church,  Rev.  E.  F.  Ekman, 
pastor,  was  organized  in  1867,  in  Colgate  Chapel, 
East  Twentieth  Street.  It  has  worshiped  for  several 
years  in  Twenty-seventh  Street.  Total  number  of 
members  in  1897,  two  hundred  and  eighty-six, 
sixty-one  of  whom  are  non-resident.  The  present 
membership  is  three  hundred  and  six. 

The  First  Italian  Church,  corner  of  Oliver  and 
Henry  Streets,  Rev.  Agostino  Dassori,  pastor,  was 
organized  in  1897.     Present  membership,  seventy- 


174  REMINISCENCES 

six,  of  whom  thirteen  were  baptized  during  the 
year  1897. 

Shiloh  Church,  East  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Street,  between  Lexington  and  Park  Ave- 
nues. Present  number,  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven.  Pev.  W.  H.  Slater,  pastor.  This  church 
was  organized  in  1875,  and  had,  in  1897,  seventy 
members. 

Eagle  Avenue  Church,  located  on  One  Hundred 
and  Sixty-third  Street,  Rev.  Henry  Marschard,  pas- 
tor, was  organized  in  1895,  with  thirty-three  mem- 
bers. The  Minutes  of  the  Association  for  1897 
report  this  church  as  owning  property  estimated  at 
five  thousand  dollars,  subject  to  a  mortgage  of  two 
thousand  six  hundred  dollars.  Present  member- 
ship, thirty-two. 

Antioch  Church,  34  West  Thirty-second  Street, 
Rev.  Granville  Hunt,  pastor.  In  1896  the  church 
reported  a  membership  of  one  hundred  and  twelve. 
Present  membership,  one  hundred. 

Thessalonian  Church,  Morris  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Eighty-first  Street,  Rev.  J.  J.  Rivers, 
pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in  1897,  and 
reports  that  year  a  membership  of  fourteen  persons. 
Present  membership,  twenty-two. 

GERMAN   BAPTIST    CHURCHES. 

First.  This  church,  organized  in  1846,  was  for 
many  years  under  the  pastoral  care  of  G.  M. 
Schulte,  D.  D.     Its  present  pastor  is  Rev.  G.  A. 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    175 

Gunther.  In  1897  the  church  reported  to  the 
Association  three  hundred  and  twenty-one  members. 
It  has  a  good  meeting-house  in  Fourteenth  Street, 
near  First  Avenue,  erected  by  the  Church  Exten- 
sion Society  of  the  Southern  New  York  Baptist 
Association.  Its  granite  front  was  once  the  front 
of  the  lecture-room  of  Doctor  Cheever's  church, 
on  Fifteenth  Street  and  Broadway.  When  Doctor 
Cheever's  church  edifice  was  torn  down,  the  two 
fagades  were  purchased  by  Mr.  John  W.  Stevens, 
who  acted  as  chairman  of  the  Church  Extension 
Committee.  The  Broadway  front  was  used  for 
what  is  now  the  Mount  Olivet  Baptist  Church,  and 
the  Fifth  Street  front  was  used  for  the  First  Ger- 
man Church.  The  present  membership  is  three 
hundred  and  twenty-one. 

Second,  located  407  West  Forty-third  Street,  was 
organized  in  1885.  In  1897  the  church  reported 
two  hundred  and  eighty-six  members.  Brother 
Walter  Rauschenbusch,  who  has  recently  accepted  a 
professor^s  chair  in  the  Rochester  Theological  Semi- 
nary, ministered  to  this  church  eleven  years.  On 
his  removal  the  fjhurch  called  their  present  pastor, 
Rev.  Gottlieb  Fetzer.  The  present  membership  is 
two  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

Third,  Morrisania,  organized  in  1857,  celebrated 
its  fortieth  anniversary  in  April,  1897;  had  then 
one  hundred  and  eight  members,  of  whom  nineteen 
were  baptized  during  the  preceding  yeer.  Present 
pastor,  Rev.  Reinhard  Hoefflin. 


176  REMINISCENCES 

First  Harlem,  located  at  222  East  One  Hundred 
and  Eighteenth  Street,  between  Avenues  Second 
and  Third.  Organized  in  1894;  has  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  resident  and  twenty-eight  non-resident 
members,  while  fifteen  have  been  baptized  and  ten 
received  by  letter  the  past  year.  The  church  has 
paid  a  floating  debt  of  one  thousand  dollars,  but  is 
subject  to  a  mortgage  of  twelve  thousand  dollars 
held  by  the  City  Mission.  Rev.  R.  T.  Wagner, 
pastor. 

Immanuel,  located  on  the  corner  of  Sixty-first 
Street  and  Avenue  One.  Organized  in  1 894  ;  present 
number  of  members  seventy,  of  whom  nine  were 
baptized  in  1896.     Rev.  Charles  Roth,  pastor. 

Sixty-seventh  Street,  located  on  Sixty-seventh 
Street,  near  Avenue  Tenth,  has  forty-two  members. 
Their  late  pastor  met  a  terrible  death  some  time  in 
1896.  Since  then  Rev.  Geo.  N.  Thomssen  has 
supplied  their  pulpit  until  some  time  during  1897. 

STATEN    ISLAND    CHURCHES. 

Park  Church,  Port  Richmond,  Rev.  William 
Morrison,  pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in 
1841  as  the  North  Church,  Port  Richmond.  Mr. 
Morrison,  who  has  served  the  church  since  1895,  is 
its  sixteenth  pastor.  It  reports  in  1897  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  resident  and  fifty-seven  non- 
resident members,  and  as  having  received  six  by 
baptism  and  five  by  letter  during  the  previous  year. 
Present  membership,  three  hundred  and  thirty-one. 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH,  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES    177 

South  Church,  Tottenville,  Judson  C.  Hendrick- 
son,  pastor.  This  church,  organized  in  1859,  has 
had  fourteen  pastors.  It  reports  to  the  Association 
with  ninety-nine  members,  nine  of  whom  are  non- 
resident.    Present  membership,  ninety-four. 

Mariner's  Harbor,  Mariner's  Harbor.  Organized 
in  1857.  In  1897  it  reported  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  resident  and  fifty-three  non-resident 
members.  It  has  had  twelve  pastors,  the  present 
pastor  being  Rev.  Sidney  Welton.  Present  num- 
ber, two  hundred  and  twenty-three. 

West  Church,  Kreischerville.  Organized  in  1848. 
It  has  had  ten  pastors.  In  1896  it  had  twelve 
members.  In  1897  it  had  but  nine,  and  had  held 
no  services  in  the  church  during  that  year.  It  has 
been  without  a  pastor  at  least  five  years — how  much 
longer  I  cannot  learn. 

First  Church,  New  Brighton,  Rev.  Daniel  S. 
Toy,  pastor.  This  church  began  the  year  1896 
with  fourteen  members,  with  neither  meeting-house 
nor  site  on  which  to  build  one.  It  closed  the  year 
1897  with  seventy  members,  and  was  in  possession 
of  one  of  the  best  building  sites  in  the  town,  with  a 
prospect  of  soon  entering  the  completed  lecture-room 
of  a  new  church  edifice.  This  work  has  been 
effected,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  through  the  un- 
tiring energy  of  the  pastor  and  the  large  gifts  of 
one  of  the  brethren.  Deacon  Saunders.  Present 
number,  ninety-three. 

St.  Philip's  Church,  Port  Richmond,  Rev.  Wil- 

M 


178  REMINISCENCES 

liam  Edwards,  pastor.  The  church  has  at  present 
twenty-six  members,  ten  of  whom  are  non-resident. 
This  leaves  a  small  constituency  for  Mr.  Edwards, 
who  is  their  fifth  pastor. 

With  but  one  omission  the  foregoing  pages  com- 
prise all  the  information  the  writer  is  able  to  give 
relating  to  the  Baptist  churches  of  New  York  City 
and  its  immediate  vicinity  from  1835  to  the  present 
time.  The  omission  is  the  Madison  Avenue  Baptist 
Church.  This  church  was  organized  in  1848.  In 
1862 — as  has  been  noted  in  a  former  chapter — 
the  Oliver  Street  Baptist  Church  sold  its  property 
in  Oliver  Street  with  the  purpose  of  assisting  the 
Madison  Avenue  Church  to  discharge  certain  pecu- 
niary obligations  then  resting  upon  it,  and  with  the 
further  purpose  of  uniting  the  two  churches  under 
one  name.  For  twenty  years  thereafter  the  churches 
and  congregations  supposed  to  be  thus  united  wor- 
shiped together  and  were  known  as  the  Madison 
Avenue  Baptist  Church.  But,  after  the  long  liti- 
gation referred  to  in  Chapter  IV.  and  the  decision 
of  the  court  that  no  proper  union  had  been  effected 
and  that  the  party  coming  from  Oliver  Street  had 
no  legal  title  either  to  the  property  or  the  name  of 
the  Madison  Avenue  Church,  the  former  party 
removed  and  afterward  organized  as  the  Baptist 
Church  of  the  Epiphany,  and  the  latter  party  in- 
vited Rev.  Dr.  C.  DeWitt  Bridgeman  to  become 
their  pastor.  Doctor  Bridgeman  was  an  able 
preacher  and  much  beloved  by  his  people,  but  after 


179 

some  years  he  resigned  his  pastorate  and  subse- 
quently took  orders  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  The  Madison  Avenue  Church  then  called 
and  settled  Henry  M.  Sanders,  d.  d.,  their  present 
distinguished  and  scholarly  pastor.  Present  mem- 
bership, three  hundred  and  twenty-eight. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CHURCHES    OUTSIDE   THE    CITY    LIMITS 

FIRST,  Mount  Vernon,  Rev.  W.  A.  Granger, 
pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in  1853. 
It  has  a  total  membership  of  eight  hundred  and 
two  persons,  of  whom  eighty-one  are  non-resident. 
During  the  year  (1897)  its  increase  had  been  by 
baptism,  forty-three,  and  by  letter,  forty-one.  The 
church  has  had  nine  pastors,  among  the  first  of 
whom  was  Rev.  E.  T.  Hiscox,  d.  d.,  under  whose 
ministry  a  large  congregation  was  gathered,  and 
many  converts  were  baptized.  Present  member- 
ship, eight  hundred  and  forty-eight.  It  just  occurs 
to  my  recollection  that  Rev.  Mr.  Burnett  preceded 
Doctor  Hiscox  as  pastor  of  this  church. 

First  Church,  White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  Rev.  J.  J. 
Gorham,  pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in 
1870,  and  occupies  a  church  edifice  built  by  another 
denomination.  It  was  bought  by  Mr.  James  B. 
Colgate,  and  presented  to  the  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society.  The  church  has  had  nine 
pastors,  and  the  present  membership  is  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two. 

Warburton  Avenue  Church,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  Al- 
vah  S.  Hobart,  D.  D.,  pastor.  This  church  was  or- 
180 


CHURCHES   OUTSIDE    THE   CITY    LIMITS       161 

ganized  in  1849,  as  the  Mount  Olivet  Church.  It 
entertained  the  Hudson  River  Baptist  Association, 
South,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  1854,  while  the  late 
Eev.  D.  Henry  Miller  was  pastor,  and  when  Rev. 
J.  L.  Hodge  preached  the  opening  sermon  and  was 
elected  moderator.  The  Warburton  Avenue  Church 
assumed  its  present  name  on  entering  its  present 
elegant  church  edifice  in  June,  1869.  Doctor  Ho- 
bart,  its  eighth  pastor  entered  on  his  pastorate  in 
1889.  The  church  property,  of  the  estimated  value 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  wholly  un- 
encumbered, was  the  gift  of  two  of  its  members ; 
John  B.  Trevor,  who  has  passed  away,  and  James 
B.  Colgate,  who  is  living  in  Yonkers.  Present 
membership,  five  hundred  and  ninety-nine. 

The  Nepperhan  Avenue  Church,  Yonkers,  N.  Y., 
Rev.  Enos  J.  Bosworth,  pastor.  This  church  was 
organized  in  1891,  and  has  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  resident,  and  twenty-two  non-resident  members. 
The  pastor  has  baptized  forty-one  persons  during 
the  past  year.  Present  membership,  three  hundred 
and  eighty-three. 

The  Messiah  Church,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  was  organ- 
ized in  1867.  In  1893  the  church  reported  to  the 
Association  as  having  forty-five  members,  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Rev.  E.  W.  Roberts.  JN^o  report 
since. 

The  Pilgrim  Church,  West  Farms,  N.  Y.,  Rev. 
John  Hooper,  pastor.  This  church  was  organized 
in   1858.     Rev.   Halsey  Wo   Knapp  supplied  the 


182  REMINISCENCES 

pulpit  gratuitously  for  a  long  time,  since  which 
time  the  church  has  had  seven  pastors,  including 
Mr.  Hooper,  whose  pastorate  began  in  1895.  For 
a  long  time  the  pulpit  was  supplied  once  on  Sunday 
by  Brother  William  Jones,  and  other  members  of 
the  Lay-preaching  Association.  It  reported  to  the 
Association  in  1898,  as  having  fifty-five  members. 

Salem  Church,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  Rev.  B.  G. 
Stelle,  pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in  1849. 
In  1897,  the  report  to  the  Association  represented 
a  total  membership  of  two  hundred  and  forty-two 
persons,  twenty-eight  of  whom  were  baptized  the 
past  year.  It  has  had  fifteen  pastors.  The  present 
pastor  has  served  two  years.  Present  membership, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-eight. 

The  North  Church,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y.,  Rev. 
Wm.  H.  Bawden,  pastor.  This  church  w-as  organ- 
ized in  1865,  and  has  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
members.  Mr.  Bawden  is  the  ninth  pastor,  and  has 
been  with  the  church  two  years.  Seven  persons 
w^ere  baptized,  and  five  received  by  letter,  during 
the  past  year. 

The  First  Church,  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  was  organized 
in  1842,  as  the  Hempstead  Baptist  Church,  and 
took  its  present  name  in  1893.  It  has  forty-one 
members,  twelve  of  whom  are  non-resident. 

Immanuel  Church,  Williamsb ridge,  N.  Y.,  was 
organized  in  1883.  No  pastor.  In  1897  it  had 
one  hundred  and  sixty-three  members.  The  present 
membership  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-two. 


CHURCHES    OUTSIDE   THE    CITY    LIMITS       183 

The  Bethel  Church,  "White  Plains,  N.  Y.,  was 
organized  in  1888.  In  1894  this  church  reported 
fifty-six  members.  No  report  since.  George  W. 
Krygar  is  pastor. 

The  Bethesda  Church,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  was 
organized  in  1890.  In  1895  it  reported  to  the 
Association  as  having  sixty-nine  members,  fourteen 
of  whom  had  been  baptized  during  the  previous 
year  by  their  pastor,  T.  H.  Bayles.  No  report 
since. 

Chappaqua  Church,  Chappaqua,  N.  Y.,  Erasmus 
D.  Garnsey,  pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in 
1881.  In  1897  it  reported  to  the  Association  as 
having  thirty-eight  resident  and  twenty-six  non- 
resident members. 

The  Calvary  Church,  SufFern,  N.  Y.,  was  organ- 
ized in  1893,  with  ten  members.  Oscar  A.  Gage, 
pastor.  Mr.  Gage  served  the  church  as  pastor 
about  two  years,  during  which  the  membership  in- 
creased to  twenty.  In  1896  the  church  reported 
twenty-two  members.  In  1897  it  had  twenty  mem- 
bers. No  pastor.  It  has  since  settled  Rev.  Robert 
Duncan  as  pastor. 

The  Pilgrim  Church,  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  w^as  organ- 
ized in  1877.     No  report  in  the  last  five  years. 

First  Church,  Nyack,  N.  Y.  This  church  was 
organized  in  1854.  It  reported  in  1895  as  having 
two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  resident,  and  eighty- 
four  non-resident  members,  under  the  care  of  Ed- 
ward M.  Saunier,  pastor.     No  report  since. 


184  REMINISCENCES 

Nanuet  Church,  Nanuet,  N.  Y.,  J.  W.  Cole, 
pastor.  This  church  was  organized  in  1794  and, 
excepting  the  First  Church,  organized  in  1762, 
and  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  organized  in 
1791,  is  the  oldest  church  in  our  Association.  It 
has  at  present  thirty-six  resident,  and  twenty-seven 
non-resident  members — an  addition  of  four  by  bap- 
tism and  four  by  letter  during  the  last  year.  Their 
congregations  are  good,  and  they  expect  soon  to  put 
improvements  on  their  house  of  worship.  During 
one  hundred  and  four  years  they  have  had  twelve 
pastors.  Rev.  Paul  J.  Lux  served  them  faithfully 
from  1892  to  1897,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a 
call  from  a  church  at  Orange,  N.  J.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  their  present  pastor.  Rev.  J.  W.  Cole. 

The  above  concludes  all  I  am  able  to  relate  of 
the  history  of  the  churches  of  our  Association  since 
1835.  The  following  chapters  will  be  devoted  to 
my  recollections  of  our  most  prominent  leaders  and 
preachers. 


DEACON  WILLIAM  COLGATE, 


CHAPTER  XXy 

BAPTIST    LEADERS   OR    LEADING    BAPTISTS 

IT  seems  to  me  there  should  be  a  distinction  here 
and  yet  I  know  not  how  to  distinguish.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  some  become 
leaders  all  unconsciously,  because  their  characters 
are  such  that  the  people  loill  follow  them;  while 
others  are  so  endowed  by  nature  with  the  highest 
attributes  of  leadership,  that  the  people  must  follow 
them.  Let  each  covet  the  best  gifts  and  let  those 
who  can  say  which  they  are.  But  let  us  never  for- 
get that  our  one  leader  is  Christ. 

Deacon  William  Colgate.  First  among  New 
York  Baptists  of  his  day,  both  in  wealth  and  influence, 
was  Deacon  William  Colgate,  of  the  Oliver  Street 
Church.  Nature  had  endowed  him  with  a  comely 
person,  and  the  God  of  Nature  had  created  in  him 
a  gracious  heart  and  an  open  hand,  always  ready  for 
every  good  work  for  the  Christ  he  loved.  His 
wealth  would  not  be  considered  great  in  these  days, 
and  pales  almost  to  insignificance  beside  the  im- 
mense fortunes  which  his  sons  have  since  accumu- 
lated, and  which — to  their  honor  be  it  said — they 
have  used  and  are  still  using  as  their  father  used 

185 


186  REMINISCENCES 

his,  to  carry  forward  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  on 
the  earth.  Deacon  William  Colgate  had  not  the 
advantage  of  what  is  called  a  liberal  education,  but 
he  had  what  is  often  more  useful,  a  liberal  endow- 
ment of  practical  sense,  together  with  great  knowl- 
edge of  men,  and  fine  insight  into  character.  He 
took  great  interest  in  young  men,  a  fact  which 
proved  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  writer.  He 
seemed  to  know  every  man's  attitude  and  value,  and 
the  writer  has  often  thought  that  if  Deacon  Colgate 
had  been  trained  to  diplomacy,  he  would  have  had 
few  superiors  in  diplomatic  circles,  either  at  home 
or  abroad. 

In  1839,  Deacon  Colgate  transferred  his  church- 
membership  from  the  Oliver  Street  Church  to  the 
newly  constituted  Tabernacle  Church  in  Mulberry 
Street,  and  it  was  here  that  the  writer  was  privileged 
to  know  him  so  well.  While  that  church  was  con- 
templating a  removal  from  Mulberry  Street  to  Sec- 
ond Avenue,  the  writer — then  a  young  man,  but  ac- 
customed to  taking  part  in  the  business  meetings  of 
the  church — strenuously  opposed  removal  to  any  lo- 
cality above  Bleecker  Street.  After  the  chaste  and 
beautiful  edifice  on  Second  Avenue  had  been  com- 
pleted, the  deacon  and  he  happened  to  be  standing 
together  in  front  of  the  building,  and  the  former 
asked  the  latter  what  he  thought  of  the  new  house? 
Nothing  but  praise  could  be  uttered  in  response, 
and  the  deacon  continued,  ^^Yes,  we  have  much  to 
be  thankful  for ;  but  we  have  made  a  mistake  in 


BAPTIST   LEADEES    OR   LEADING    BAPTISTS    187 

coming  hereJ^  Of  course  the  other  thought  so  too, 
and  was  pleased  to  hear  the  admission,  but  a  curious 
twinkle  in  the  deacon's  eye  warned  him  there  was 
something  more  to  come,  and  presently  the  deacon 
added,  "  We  ought  to  have  gone  to  Thirtieth  Street." 
AVhat  the  younger  man  thought  need  not  be  recorded, 
but  the  foresight  of  the  older  one  was  soon  made 
evident.  Fifteen  years  later  any  Baptist  would 
have  said,  the  Tabernacle  Church  ought  to  be  in 
Thirtieth  Street. 

Deacon  Colgate  had  four  sons :  Robert,  James  B., 
Samuel,  and  Joseph.  The  last  named  died  many 
years  ago  in  Europe  where  he  had  gone  in  quest  of 
health.  Mr.  Robert  Colgate  died  within  a  few 
years.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  refined  tastes  and  a 
liberal  patron  of  art,  and  gave  liberally  to  all  Chris- 
tian and  benevolent  enterprises.  Mr.  James  B. 
Colgate  is  still  living,  and  is  continually  giving 
munificently  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  numerous 
ways.  Mr.  Samuel  Colgate  has  recently  passed  on 
to  the  better  country.  He  gave  freely  of  his  large 
fortune,  not  only  to  the  university  with  which  the 
Colgate  family  is  so  fully  identified,  but  also  to  the 
support  of  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  whatever 
he  believed  tended  to  the  advancement  of  the  Re- 
deemer's kingdom  throughout  the  world.  He  gave 
himself,  his  warm  heart,  his  clear  intellect,  and  his 
physical  strength,  as  a  deacon,  Sunday-school  super- . 
intendent,  and  teacher,  in  the  church  where  he  be- 
longed. 


188  EEMINISCENCES 

To  him  also  the  denomination  is  indebted  for  a 
most  valuable  historical  library  which  he  has  gath- 
ered with  immense  labor  extending  over  many 
years;  and  for  its  preservation,  he  has  erected  a 
spacious  hall  in  Colgate  University  grounds,  thus 
rendering  its  use  convenient  to  all  visitors  through 
coming  time/ 

Deacon  Joshua  Gilbert.  No  member  or 
former  member  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  who  is 
old  enough  to  remember  the  work  of  Deacon  Wil- 
liam Colgate  and  his  contemporaries  in  that  church 
when  in  Mulberry  Street,  will  fail  to  recollect  his 
co-worker  and  brother-in-law,  Joshua  Gilbert.  No 
two  men  were  more  unlike  in  person  and  manner, 
and  at  the  same  time  more  alike  in  consecration  and 
aim  than  these.  The  gentle  and  winning  suavity  of 
William  Colgate  had  no  counterpart  in  the  stern, 
almost  grim  personality  of  Joshua  Gilbert ;  and  yet 
the  latter  concealed  a  heart  as  tender  as  a  woman's, 
and  benevolence  as  far-reaching  as  the  ties  of  human 
brotherhood,  and  none  really  knew  him  without 
loving  him. 

^At  a  recent  dinner  of  the  alumni  of  Colgate  Univer- 
sity, Mr.  James  B.  Colgate,  the  president  of  its  Board  of 
trustees,  said  in  substance:  **It  was  founded  in  1818,  the 
year  in  which  I  was  born.  It  was  organized  with  thirteen 
members  and  thirteen  dollars.  The  population  of  New 
York  City  was  then  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  The 
increase  of  the  university  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  in- 
crease of  population,  but  it  has  been  quite  satisfactory." 


BAPTIST   LEADERS   OR    LEADING    BAPTISTS    189 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL   SUPERINTENDENTS. 

Baptists  have  always  loved  Sunday-school  work, 
and  many  of  the  workers  of  the  earlier,  as  well  as 
of  a  later  day,  achieved  marked  success  as  Sun- 
day-school superintendents, — notably  Deacons  Isaac 
Newton  in  Oliver  Street,  and  William  A.  Cauldwell, 
many  years  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school 
of  Calvary  Church.  Doubtless  hundreds,  perhaps 
thousands,  whom  they  taught,  are  now  teaching 
others. 

Deacon  John  C.  Baxter.  In  this  work,  per- 
haps few  have  had  a  longer  experience  or  have  shown 
a  more  natural  adaptation  than  the  late  Deacon 
John  C.  Baxter.  I  believe  he  was  never  absent 
from  any  of  the  schools  he  superintended,  even 
through  sickness;  and  he  was  never  known  to  be 
late!  A  somewhat  strict  disciplinarian,  he  could 
not  easily  excuse  either  teacher  or  scholar  who  was 
not  so  punctual  as  himself.  He  was  frequently  so- 
licited to  visit  and  address  other  schools  when  his 
own  was  not  in  session,  and  on  these  occasions  he 
always  had  within  memory's  reach  a  fund  of  anec- 
dote and  information  that  interested  all  who  heard 
him.  Doubtless  the  Sunday-school  records  of  other 
churches  can  show  equally  interesting  facts,  both 
concerning  the  living  and  those  who  have  passed  on. 
The  church  with  which  I  have  held  my  member- 
ship for  forty-six  years  cherishes  the  memory  of 
many,  including  Chas.  T.  Goodwin,  Thomas  Hoi- 


]  90  REMINISCENCES 

man,  Benjamin  F.  Judson,  and  Chas.  E.  Willard, 
who  have  gone  to  their  rest.  Of  the  living  it  is 
not  my  purpose  to  write. 

BAPTIST   PREACHERS    WHOM   I    HAVE    HEARD. 

From  the  Oliver  Street  and  other  metropolitan 
pulpits  of  sixty  years  ago  the  writer  had  frequent 
opportunities  of  hearing  the  ablest  and  most  popular 
Baptist  preachers  of  the  day,  both  contemporaries 
and  those  called  the  "  fathers.'^  Among  the  former 
were  Rev.  Bartholomew  T.  Welch,  then  of  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  an  ardent,  eloquent  preacher,  and  especially 
tender  in  prayer  ;  Dr.  Daniel  Sharp,  then  pastor  of 
Charles  Street  Church,  Boston,  Mass.,  over  which 
his  pastorate  lasted  forty  years.  In  his  youth  he 
was  baptized  in  Oliver  Street  Church,  and  was  there 
licensed  to  preach.  Clear,  forceful,  and  searching 
were  his  sermons.  I  remember  one  from  the  text, 
"  Mark  the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright,'' 
which  made  many  ears  to  tingle  !  Dr.  Baron  Stow 
was  also  from  Boston.  His  style  was  chaste,  ele- 
gant, and  full  of  discriminating  thought.  Dr.  Rollin 
H.  Neale,  likewise  from  Boston,  was  so  charged 
with  magnetic  power  that  he  riveted  the  attention 
of  his  hearers  from  his  first  utterance  to  the  last 
word  of  his  discourse.  A  most  lovable  man,  he 
knew  how  to  grow  old  gracefully,  Drs.  Richard 
Fuller,  John  A.  Broadus,  and  H.  H.  Tucker  also 
preached  occasionally  in  our  city  pulpits.  Eloquent 
men  all  of  them. 


BAPTIST    LEADERS    OR    LEADING    BAPTISTS    191 

Among  the  second  class,  the  "  fathers  '^  in  Israel 
and  the  "pioneers''  in  the  ministry,  were  Alfred 
Bennett  and  Nathaniel  Kendrick,  d.  d.,  the  latter 
president  of  Hamilton  Theological  Seminary.  As 
a  preacher  Dr.  Kendrick  was  at  first  slow  of  utter- 
ance, but  very  sympathetic  and  tender.  When  he 
had  gotten  half  through  his  sermon  he  began  to 
warm  up,  and  spoke  rapidly  and  eloquently  to  its 
close.  It  is  said  that  his  daughter,  who  often  rode 
with  him  when  he  was  going  somewhere  to  preach, 
would  sometimes  laughingly  say  half  an  hour 
before  they  reached  the  station  :  '^  Father,  if  you 
begin  now  you  will  be  just  right  when  we  reach  the 
church  ! "  Dr.  Kendrick  was  rich  in  good  works, 
greatly  beloved  by  all  and  venerated  by  the  young 
men  who  were  students  in  and  graduated  from  the 
theological  seminary  over  which  he  presided.  He 
visited  our  city  once  every  year  to  solicit  funds  for 
his  institution,  and  on  such  occasions  he  never  re- 
turned empty-handed. 

Rev.  Alfred  Bennett  likewise  came  every  year  to 
advocate  the  cause  of  foreign  missions.  "  Father 
Bennett,''  as  he  was  lovingly  called,  had  a  stal- 
wart frame,  a  large,  loving  heart,  and  an  eloquent 
tongue.     It  was  a  benediction  to  hear  him  preach. 

Then  there  was  dear  old  "  Father  Peck,"  Elder 
John  Peck,  with  heart  as  gentle  and  pure  as  the 
heart  of  a  child.  None  could  help  loving  him. 
He  visited  our  city  churches  once  a  year  as  the 
agent  of  the  State  Convention.     Every  year  he  gave 


192  REMINISCENCES 

US  an  affectionate  farewell  !  His  advanced  age  and 
feeble  physique  always  favored  the  thought  that  the 
present  might  be  the  last  visit.  The  last  visit  did 
come.  I  have  forgotten  in  what  year,  but  he  died 
in  this  city  during  one  of  his  annual  visits. 

Among  those  who  visited  our  churches  once  every 
year  to  plead  for  foreign  missions  no  one  was  more 
widely  known  or  more  heartily  welcomed  than  Kev. 
Orin  Dodge,  and  no  one  was  so  long  "in  the  har- 
ness.^' He  was  brief,  clear,  and  earnest,  but  never 
tedious,  and  never  despondent.  He  was  of  a  later 
day  than  those  already  named. 

Many  distinguished  visitors  from  Europe  also 
preached  from  time  to  time  in  our  city  pulpits. 
During  the  year  1835,  Rev.  Drs.  Cox  and  Hoby 
visited  America  as  a  delegation  from  England,  and 
their  presence  awakened  great  interest  in  our 
churches.  Dr.  Cox  had  an  impressive  personality. 
I  remember  him  distinctly  as  he  walked  up  the 
aisle  of  the  Amity  Street  Church,  in  full  clerical 
costume  of  black  knee-breeches,  silk  stockings,  low 
shoes,  and  large  silver  buckles,  to  deliver  an  address 
from  Dr.  Williams'  pulpit. 

Among  the  visitors  from  England  who  came  to 
us  at  a  later  date  were  Hugh  Stowell  Brown,  Dr. 
Chown,  of  Bradford,  aud  other  excellent  preachers 
whose  names  I  do  not  now  recall.  While  writing 
the  above  of  distinguished  American  preachers  I 
omitted  to  name  one  of  the  most  famous,  the  widely 
known  evangelist.  Elder  Jabez  Swan.     He  was  an 


BAPTIST   LEADERS   OR   LEADING   BAPTISTS   193 

able  and  eloquent  man,  and  seems  to  have  been 
among  Baptists  what  I  suppose  Rev.  Chas.  G.  Fin- 
ney was  among  Congregationalists.  Rev.  Dr.  Thos. 
J.  Conant,  the  eminent  Hebrew  scholar,  so  long 
engaged  in  revising  the  English  Scriptures  for  the 
American  Bible  Union,  always  addressed  the  union 
at  its  anniversaries,  but  I  never  heard  him  preach. 

Perhaps  this  is  as  fitting  a  place  as  may  offer  to 
pay  a  passing  tribute  to  the  memory  of  some  noble 
Baptists,  both  ministers  and  laymen,  whose  names 
have  been  hitherto  omitted  or  too  briefly  noticed, 
and  who  are  now  gone  to  the  better  country.  Among 
the  servants  of  Christ  who  have  recently  passed 
away  there  have  been  few  or  none  whose  memory 
will  be  more  lovingly  and  deservedly  cherished 
than  the  late  Halsey  W.  Knapp,  D.  D.  Dr.  Knapp 
was  a  unique  figure  in  the  Baptist  history  of  our 
day.  In  addition  to  an  impressive  personality,  a 
general  attractive  manner  and  unflagging  energy, 
he  possessed  extraordinary  capacity  for  business, 
which  he  conducted  with  such  ability,  integrity,  and 
success  that  he  had  acquired  a  considerable  fortune 
even  before  his  conversion — rather  restoration,  for 
he  had  been  brought  to  Christ  in  his  youth,  but  had 
lived  the  life  of  a  worldling  for  many  years.  From 
the  hour  of  his  gracious  restoration  the  current  of 
his  life  found  a  new  channel.  His  business  was 
conducted  with  his  wonted  enthusiasm,  but  for  a 
different  end.  From  early  dawn  until  noon  daily 
his  business  in  Washington  Market  (where  he  dealt 


194  REMINISCENCES 

in  poultry  and  game)  required  and  received  his  con- 
stant attention,  and  in  all  this  he  served  Christ  in 
temporal  things.  The  rest  of  his  time  and  talents 
were  devoted  to  higher  duties.  Although  only  a 
layman,  he  was  found  Sunday  after  Sunday  preach- 
ing the  glad  tidings  of  Christ  wherever  he  found  an 
open  door,  either  supplying  feeble  churches  or 
gathering  new  congregations  where  no  church  had 
yet  been  planted,  always  preaching  out  of  a  full 
heart  and  with  such  a  flow  of  natural  eloquence  as 
delighted  his  audiences,  and,  by  divine  blessing, 
won  many  souls  to  God. 

Mr.  Knapp^s  success  in  this  work  made  such  an 
impression  on  his  brethren  then  occupying  our  city 
pulpits  that  they  desired  to  see  him  regularly  in- 
ducted into  the  ministry,  and  a  council  of  Baptist 
churches  was  called  to  consider  the  matter  of  his 
ordination.     The  findings  of  the  council  were  : 

First,  that  Mr.  Knapp  should  be  ordained. 

Second,  that  he  should  continue  to  conduct  his 
secular  business. 

Mr.  Knapp  accepted  the  advice  of  the  council, 
continuing  to  give  personal  attention  to  business  in 
the  forenoon  and  devoting  the  balance  of  his  time 
to  preparations  for  the  pulpit  and  the  exercises  of  the 
pastoral  office.  He  became  pastor  successively  of 
the  Pilgrim  Church,  at  West  Farms;  the  Pilgrim 
Church,  West  Thirty-third  Street;  the  Laight 
Street,  and  other  Baptist  churches,  serving  each 
without  salary,  and  giving   largely   from   his   own 


BAPTIST   LEADERS   OR   LEADING   BAPTISTS    195 

private  resources.  Only  when  the  disastrous  failure 
of  some  of  his  largest  customers  heavily  indebted  to 
him  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary  did  he  ask  or 
receive  any  pecuniary  compensation  ! 

Surely,  it  may  properly  be  said  of  such  a  charac- 
ter, "  It  is  unique  !  " 


CHAPTER  XXyi 

A    CLOSING   WORD 

TO  make  a  record  of  all  the  honored  Baptist  min- 
isters and  laymen,  who  at  one  time  or  another 
have  had  New  York  City  for  the  field  of  their 
activities  as  journalists,  presidents,  secretaries, 
church  officials,  Sunday-school  superintendents,  and 
men  of  business,  would  swell  these  reminiscences 
much  beyond  their  intended  limits.  All  that  will 
be  attempted,  therefore,  is  to  recall  a  few  names  of 
those  who,  having  served  their  generation  in  one  or 
more  of  these  departments  of  labor,  have  passed  on 
to  serve  in  a  higher  sphere. 

Among  those  who  have  edited  Baptist  journals  in 
New  York  City  since  the  '^  Baptist  Advocate ''  was 
first  issued  May  11, 1839,  older  Baptists  will  remem- 
ber William  H.  Wyckoff,  Martin  B.  Anderson,  Sewall 
S.  Cutting,  Orin  B.  Judd,  A.  S.  Patton,  Nathan 
Brown,  Pharcellus  Church,  John  W.  Olmstead,  Jay 
S.  Backus,  and  perhaps  others,  all  of  whom,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken,  have  passed  from  the  employments  of 
earth,  or  they  would  not  be  mentioned  here ;  yet 
their  well-known  faces  seem  more  easily  recalled 
than  those  of  some  whom  I  met  but  yesterday. 

It  would  savor  of  presumption  to  say,  or  even  per- 

196 


A   CLOSING   WOED  197 

haps  to  suggest,  which  of  the  above-named  able 
men  merited  the  second  place  in  editorial  ranks ; 
but  few,  probably,  will  question  that  the  late  Dr. 
Edward  Bright,  editor  of  "The  Examiner,'^  was, 
in  his  day,  entitled  to,  and  accorded,  the  highest 
place. 

Among  those  who  have  served  our  several  socie- 
ties with  distinguished  ability  as  secretaries,  the 
names  of  Benjamin  M.  Hill,  Wm.  H.  Wyckoff, 
Sewall  S.  Cutting,  and  Nathan  Bishop,  will  not 
soon  be  forgotten.  Yet  the  self-sacrificing  labors  of 
Doctor  Bishop  who,  in  a  period  of  great  financial 
stress,  served  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission 
Society  for  two  consecutive  years  without  salary, 
and  during  the  same  period,  gave  the  Society  thirty 
thousand  dollars  from  his  own  and  Mrs.  Bishop^s 
private  resources,  surely  merits  the  highest  praise, 
and  should  cause  him  to  be  remembered  as  the  most 
public-spirited,  as  he  had  long  been  accounted  the 
"foremost.  Baptist  layman ^^  of  his  day — a  day  in 
which  Geo.  H.  Andrews,  Wm.  A.  Cauldwell,  Sam- 
uel S.  Constant,  L.  P.  Bayne,  Charles  L.  Colby, 
William  Phelps,  and  a  host  of  others,  worthy  com- 
peers in  Christian  work,  were  bestowing  their  wealth, 
and  devoting  all  their  mental  and  physical  energy 
to  the  service  of  the  Master,  in  our  own  city  first, 
and  then  in  the  regions  beyond. 

While  thinking  of  other  leading  Baptist  laymen 
who  have  passed  into  the  unseen  within  my  recol- 
lection,— some  of  them  many,  many  years  ago, — 


198  EEMINISCENCES 

memory  brings  back  the  once  familiar  features  of 
John  R.  Ludlow,  a  retired  merchant,  a  man  of 
wealth  and  cultured  intellect,  who  (like  some  al- 
ready named,  but  who  belonged  to  a  later  gener- 
ation) was  once  spoken  of  as  "  the  foremost  Baptist 
layman  of  his  day.^^ 

Then  arises  before  my  mind  a  host,  some  belong- 
ing to  a  little  later  day,  and  others  to  a  day  later 
still,  but  each  with  a  vividness  that  causes  it  to 
seem  but  yesterday  that  they  were  part  of  our  life, 
aiding  in  our  religious  work,  counseling  in  our  per- 
plexities, taking  part  in  our  Associational  meetings, 
often  stirring  us  to  action  by  their  eloquence,  and 
helping  to  shape  the  policy  of  our  churches  and  de- 
nominational societies. 

Among  them  I  seem  to  behold  again  the  once 
familiar  forms  and  faces  of  Peter  Balen,  Peter  and 
Wm.  T.  Anderson,  John  N.  Wyckoff,  Charles  A. 
Baldwin,  Richard  Hunt,  Richard  Peterson,  Benja- 
min Reynolds,  Samuel  Barstow,  Andrew  Swaney, 
and  others,  some  of  them  in  the  Cannon  Street,  and 
others,  members  of  the  Norfolk  Street  Church,  in 
which  Brethren  Hunt,  Peterson,  Baldwin,  Reynolds, 
and  Samuel  Barstow  were  at  one  time  trustees,  while 
Andrew  Swaney  was  a  deacon. 

In  another  group  I  remember  Humphrey  Phelps, 
James  Cowan,  Wm.  D.  Mangam,  Isaac  Lewis,  R.  C. 
Ackerley,  Willard  Phelps,  and  Andrew  Middleton, 
all  members  of  the  Stanton  Street  Church.  In  an- 
other group,  memory  recalls,  besides  some  mentioned 


A    CLOSING    WORD  199 

elsewhere,  Garrett  N.  Bleecker,  Isaac  Newton,  Wm. 
D.  Murphy,  Nathan  C.  Piatt,  Ebenezer  Cauldwell, 
Samuel  Raynor,  Ervin  H.  Tripp  (who  always  stood 
during  prayer,  although  that  ancient  custom  had 
long  since  passed  away),  and  Captain  A.  W.  Wel- 
den,  most  or  all  of  whom  were  in  the  Oliver  Street 
Church. 

In  yet  another  group,  were  John  C.  Overhiser, 
Benjamin  Pike,  Benjamin  Pike,  Jr.,  Daniel  Pike, 
George  T.  Hope,  George  C.  Germond,  R.  J.  Brad- 
ford, and  C.  C.  Backus,  who  has  just  passed  on.  I 
think  most  of  the  last-named  group  were,  at  one 
time  or  another,  members  of  the  Amity  Baptist 
Church. 

But  I  must  hasten  to  bring  these  reminiscences  to 
an  end,  and  perhaps  I  cannot  prepare  the  way  to 
do  so  better  than  by  presenting  my  readers  with  a 
retrospective  view  of  the  old  church  in  Mulberry 
Street  as  I  first  knew  it  in  1839,  as  the  Tabernacle 
Baptist  Church.  It  embraced  a  truly  remarkable 
body  of  men,  leaders  and  workers ;  men  of  age, 
large  experience,  and  mental  power,  supplemented 
and  supported  by  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  by 
a  yet  larger  number  possessing  all  the  zeal  and  ardor 
of  youth. 

In  the  first  class  (besides  Deacons  William  Col- 
gate and  Joshua  Gilbert,  already  named)  stood 
Deacon  William  Winterton,  a  man  of  great  energy 
and  executive  talent ;  David  T.  Valentine,  a  his- 
toric figure,  prominent  in  civic  as  well  as  in  church 


200  REMINISCENCES 

life,  more  than  thirty  years  clerk  of  the  Common 
Council  of  New  York  City,  and  editor  of  the  "  Cor- 
poration Manual/^  He  was  a  man  of  noble  pres- 
ence whom,  having  seen  once,  one  could  never  for- 
get. Side  by  side  with  the  above-named  stood 
Wm.  Goadly,  Abram  Knight,  Thomas  Day,  and 
others,  who  had  belonged  to  the  old  Mulberry  Street 
Church  before  the  Tabernacle  was  organized.  Next 
came  Deacons  Wm.  M.  McCutchen  and  Charles  AY. 
Houghton,  who  came  with  the  West  Baptist  Church ; 
then  James  G.  Whipple,  Deacon  Samuel  Shardlow, 
John  and  Bowles  Colgate,  Avery  Brumley,  John 
Barker,  Eldredge  Yandewerken,  Joseph  F.  Sanxay, 
Wm.  B.  Bradbury,  leader  of  the  choir,  and  Joseph 
B.  Hoyt,  afterward  treasurer  of  the  American  Bap- 
tist Home  Mission  Society.  Among  the  younger 
men,  were  David  Sloan,  Richard  J.  Larcomb, 
Henry  G.  Leask,  and  Thomas  Rafferty,  all  active 
workers  in  various  departments,  and  last,  but  by  no 
means  least  in  spiritual  attainments,  was  the  God- 
fearing Bible  student  and  faithful  sexton,  Joseph 
Whittemore. 

Among  the  beloved  brethren  who  have  been 
taken  from  us  since  the  days  of  which  I  have  just 
written,  memory  calls  for  a  loving  tribute  to  many 
Avhose  names  must  be  omitted  for  want  of  space. 
But  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  Deacon  Chas.  T. 
Goodwin,  Geo.  H.  Andrews,  Benjamin  F.  Judson, 
and  more  recently,  Chas.  L.  Colby,  Samuel  T.  and 
George   Washington  Hillman,  De   AYitt  C.  Hays, 


A    CLOSING    WORD  201 

Joseph  Brokaw,  Robt.  G.  Cornell,  Chas.  T.  Evans, 
Frederick  Hornby,  John  P.  Townsend,  Edward  Col . 
gate,  Howard  F.  Randolph,  David  W.  Manwaring, 
and  John  W.  Gilbough,  most  of  them  office-bearers, 
and  all  of  them  highly  esteemed  and  much  loved 
members  of  their  respective  churches,  men  whom 
their  pastors  and  brethren  especially  and  continually 
miss. 

But  memory  goes  still  farther  back,  and  recalls 
the  venerated  forms  of  Deacons  Thomas  Garniss, 
Thomas  Purser,  Jacob  Smith,  Roger  Pegg,  Robert 
Edwards,  and  their  compeers  and  contemporaries. 
These  all  "served  their  own  generation  and  fell  on 
sleep.^'  We  would  not  wish  them  canonized.  Their 
many  virtues,  like  those  of  their  successors  in  the 
present  day,  were  mixed  with  human  frailties ;  their 
judgments  were  not  so  perfect  that  they  made  no 
mistakes ;  they  certainly  were  not  infallible ;  but  they 
were  noble.  God-fearing  men,  and  while  we  rejoice 
in  the  thought  that  they  are  now  reaping  their  re- 
ward in  heaven,  we  also  thank  God  for  the  work 
they  did  on  earth. 

But  were  the  former  times  better  than  these? 
No !  God  has  as  faithful  servants  yet  on  earth  as 
those  he  has  taken  to  heaven.  But  of  these  it  is 
not  my  purpose  to  write.  They  too  will  "serve 
their  generation  and  fall  on  sleep,^'  and  another,  and 
doubtless  an  abler  pen,  will  chronicle  their  deeds. 

My  task  is  done.  May  God  accept  it  to  his  own 
glory  for  Christ's  sake.     Amen. 


APPENDIX 

IT  was  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  close  the  fore- 
going reminiscences  with  the  twenty-seventh 
anniversary  of  the  Southern  New  York  Baptist 
Association,  held  with  the  Hope  Baptist  Church, 
October  12-14,  1897.  He  has  however  concluded 
to  add  the  following :  The  Association  met  in  the 
new  and  elegant  edifice  of  the  Washington  Heights 
Church,  on  the  corner  of  Convent  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Forty-fifth  Street.  The  sessions  were 
unusually  well  attended  and  were  full  of  interest 
from  beginning  to  end ;  but  the  crowning  event  was 
the  formal  dedication  of  the  church  edifice  to  the 
worship  of  Almighty  God.  Many  able  and  in- 
tensely interesting  addresses  were  made,  and  the 
dedicatory  prayer  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  B.  B.  Bos- 
worth,  was  listened  to  in  solemn  and  reverential 
silence. 

Brooklyn  Churches.  A  friend  asks  me  if  I  do 
not  intend  to  include  the  Baptist  churches  and  pas- 
tors of  Brooklyn  in  my  reminiscences.  I  am  re- 
luctantly compelled  to  answer  in  the  negative. 
First,  because  such  a  work  should  be  done,  if  done 
at  all,  by  some  member  of  the  Long  Island  Asso- 
ciation to  which  those  churches  and  pastors  belong ; 
and  secondly,  because  such  a  work,  if  I  should  un- 

202 


APPENDIX  203 

dertake  it,  would  not  be  a  record  of  memories,  but 
a  mere  collection  of  reports  and  a  very  imperfect 
one.  There  are,  however,  several  among  the  de- 
parted, and  two  or  three  perhaps  among  the  living, 
who  were  at  one  time  or  other,  members  of  the  New 
York  or  the  Hudson  River  Associations  before  the 
Long  Island  Association  was  formed ;  and  of  these 
I  may  properly  write. 

Of  the  departed,  Rev.  E.  E.  L.  Taylor  came  to 
Brooklyn  in  1839,  having  just  graduated  from 
Hamilton,  where  he  was  a  fellow-student  with  Rev. 
Wm.  W.  Everts,  who  had  just  been  called  to  the 
Tabernacle  Church,  then  in  Mulberry  Street.  Doc- 
tor Taylor's  work  in  Brooklyn,  where  he  was  pastor 
successively  of  the  Pearl  Street,  the  Pierrepont 
Street,  and  the  Strong  Place  Churches,  was  very 
successful.  With  the  last  named,  he  closed  his  pub- 
lic ministry.  Dr.  J.  Monroe  Taylor,  the  accom- 
plished president  of  Vassar  College,  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
E.  E.  L.  Taylor. 

The  late  Dr.  Hiram  Hutchins,  for  nearly  forty 
years  pastor  of  the  East  Brooklyn  Church  on 
Bedford  Avenue,  and  Rev.  Dr.  John  W.  Sarles, 
whose  golden  jubilee,  marking  the  close  of  fifty 
years  in  the  gospel  ministry,  was  celebrated  two 
years  ago  at  Stelton,  N.  J.,  were  both  at  one  time, 
with  the  churches  to  which  they  ministered,  mem- 
bers of  the  New  York  Baptist  Association.  Doctor 
Sarles  commenced  his  ministry  with  the  Bridge 
Street  Church,  Brooklyn,  in   1847,  and   continued 


204  REMINISCENCES 

there  until  1879,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the 
pastorate  of  the  Piscataway  Church  at  Stelton,  where 
he  still  resides. 

Both  Doctor  Hut  chins  and  Doctor  Sarles  were 
firm  friends  and  active  members  of  the  American 
Bible  Union  from  its  formation  in  1850,  working 
side  by  side  until  the  death  of  the  former.  The 
latter  is  now  its  vice-president.  D.  C.  Hughes,  D.  D., 
who  is  corresponding  secretary  of  the  American 
Bible  Union,  was  some  years  ago  pastor  of  the 
Trinity  Church,  Fifty-fifth  Street,  New  York,  and 
of  course  a  member  of  the  Southern  New  York 
Baptist  Association,  and  is  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
only  Brooklyn  pastor  standing  in  like  relation, 
except  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Bruce  Hull,  and  he  has 
already  been  mentioned  among  the  pastors  of  the 
Tabernacle  Church  of  this  city. 

I  trust  this  will  be  accepted  by  my  many  Brook- 
lyn friends  as  a  sufficient  apology  for  not  including 
their  churches  and  pastors  in  my  reminiscences. 

G.  H.  H. 

New  York,  January,  1899. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  138. 
Abyssinian  Church,  7,  25,  26. 
Acton,  Hon.  Thos.  C,  132,  133. 
Adams,  Jed  E.,  162. 
Adams,  Rev.  John  Quincy,  49,  157. 
Alexander  Avenue  Church,  166. 
Alexandria,  Va.,  Church,  20. 
All  Angels'  Chapel,  153. 
Alman,  Rev.  Samuel,  129-131, 163- 

165. 
American  Baptist  Home  Mission 

Society,  180,  197,  200. 
American      Baptist      Missionary 

Union,  54. 
American  Bible  Union,  15,  87, 151, 

193.  204. 
American  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, 15. 
Amity  Street  Church,  7,  53-58,  192. 
Amity  Street  Church  Officials,  199. 
Anderson,  Martin  B.,  ll.  d.,  196. 
Anderson,  Thomas  D.,  d.  d.,  102, 

150,  152, 153. 
Andrews,  Hon.  Geo.  H.,  74,  98,  101. 
Angell,  Rev.  Henry,  154,  155. 
Anniversary    Committee    of   the 

Fifth  Avenue  Church,  104. 
Anniversary  Committee  of  Stanton 

Street  Church,  102. 
Antioch  Church,  174. 
Archer,  Ezekiel,  9. 
Armitage,  Thomas,  D.  D.,  73,  74,  75, 

76-79,  86-88,  90,  92,  94.  96-146. 
Ascension  Church,  162,  163. 
Attercliffe  Common,  110. 
Avery,  Rev.,  161. 

Backus,  Rev.  Jay  S.,  60,  159,  196. 
Bailey,  Rev.  G.  W.,  170. 


Ballard,  Rev.  Joseph,  162. 
Barnard,  Rev.  Joseph,  61. 
'*  Baptist  Advocate,"  196. 
"  Baptist  Church  Directory,"  46. 
"  Baptist  Ministers'  Home,"  60. 
Baptist  Sunday-school  Union,  85. 
Barrett,  Rev.  Luther  G.,  157. 
Barstow,  Rev.  Jonathan,  165. 
Barstow,  Samuel,  198. 
Bawden,  Rev.  Wm.  H..  158. 
Baxter,  Dea.  John  C,  189. 
Bayles,  Rev.  T.  H.,  183. 
Beckley,  John  T.,  d.  d.,  34. 
Beedle,  Rev.  Samuel,  110. 
Bellamy,  Rev.  David,  43,  44. 
Bellezane,  Wreck  of  the,  16, 17. 
Beman,  Mr.  Warren,  97. 
Benedict,  Rev.  George,  7,  42,  72, 

73-75,  111. 
Bennett,  Rev.  Alfred,  191. 
Berean  Church,  156,  157. 
Bernard,  Rev.  David,  59. 
Beth  Eden  Church,  170. 
Bethel  Church,  9,  42. 
Bethel  Church,  White  Plains,  N. 

Y.,  183. 
Bethesda  Church,  158,  159. 
Bethesda  Church,  New  Rochelle, 

N.  Y.,  183. 
Bible  Revision,  87,  88,  151. 
Bishop,  Nathan,  ll.  d..  197. 
Bishop,  Mrs.  Nathan,  161. 
Bitting,  Rev.  Wm.  C,  106, 161. 
Bloomingdale  Church,  156. 
Bonham,  Rev.  J.  W.,  94. 
Bostwick,  J.  A.,  104,  111,  112,  114, 

117,  136,  145, 146,  148,  164,  165. 
Bosworth,  Rev.  Boardman  B.,  47, 

202. 

205 


206 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Bosworth,  Rev.  Enos  J.,  181. 
Bridgeman,  C.  De  Witt,  D.  D.,  120, 

121,  178,  179. 
Bridge  Street  Church,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y.,  203. 
Bright,  Dr.  Edward,  105,  149,  197. 
Broadus,  John  A.,  D.  D.,  106, 190. 
Brokaw,  Dea.  Joseph,  154. 
Bronk,  Rev.  Mitchell,  163. 
Brooklyn  Churches,  202. 
Broome  Street  Church,  7,  61. 
Brouner,  Rev.  Jacob  H.,  7, 49, 51, 79. 
Brouner,  Rev.  John  J.,  50-52. 
Brown.  Rev.  A.  B.,  173. 
Brown,  Hugh  Stowell,  192. 
Brown,  Nathan,  196. 
Brown  University,  149. 
Buckland,  Rev.  R.  J.  W.,  44. 
Buckley,  Rev.  J.  M.,  139. 
Bull's  Head  Cattle  Market,  93. 
Burlingham,  A.  H.,  D.  c,  37. 
Burnett,  Rev.,  180. 
Bun,  Stephen  H.,  162. 
Burchard,  Rev.  S.  D.,  102. 

Calvary  Church,  10,  44,  45, 189. 
Calvary  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  33. 
Calvary  Church,   SufEern,  N.  Y., 

183. 
Campbell,  Rev.  J.  L.,  166. 
Cannon  Street  Church,  61. 
Cannon   Street   Church  Officials, 

198. 
Carmel  Church,  173. 
Carte,  Mrs.,  168,  169. 
Castle,  Rev.,  166. 

Cauldwell,  Dea.  Wm.  A.,  161, 189. 
Central  Church,  156. 
Central  Church  Officers,  156. 
Central  Park  Church  (first  one), 

92,  162. 
Central  Park  Church  (second  one), 

162. 
Chambers,  Rev.  T.  W.,  138. 
Chappaqua  Church,  Chappaqua, 

N.  Y.,  183. 


Chinese  Work,  168,  169. 

Chase,  Rev.  Johnson,  7,  8,  40. 

Choules,  Rev.  John  O.,  154. 

Chown,  Doctor,  192. 

Christian  Church,  72. 

Church  Extension  Society  of  the 

Southern  N.  Y.  Assoc,  174. 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  167, 168. 
Church  of  the  Seceders,  12. 
Church,  Pharcellus,  d.  d.,  196. 
City  Mission  Society,  51,  71, 85, 169. 

176. 
Cleghorn,  Rev.  A.,  50, 
Clinch,  Edward  S.,  162. 
Colby,  Chas.  L.,  125-127. 
Cole,  Rev.  J.  W.,  184. 
Coger,  Rev.  M.  G.,161. 
Colgate  Chapel,  173. 
Colgate,  Dea.  W^m.,  62,  64,18&-187, 

188. 
Colgate,  James  B.,  180, 181, 187, 188. 
Colgate,  Joseph,  187. 
Colgate,  Robert,  187. 
Colgate,  Samuel,  187,  188. 
Colgate,  Rev.  Samuel.  Jr.,  165. 
Colgate  University,  188. 
Combs,  Mr.  Samuel  B.,  3. 
Comey,  Dea.  J.  F.,  128. 
Conant,  Rev.  Thos.  J.,  193. 
Cone,  Rev.  Spencer  H.,  3,  5,  7,  15, 

17,  19-22,  72,  1.50-152. 
Cooper,  Dea.  Wm.,  150. 
Cooper  Union,  2. 
Coray,  E.  A.,  96. 
Corey,  Rev.  Sidney  A.,  168. 
"Corporation  Manual,"  200. 
Covel,  Rev.  Lemuel,  27,  154,  155. 
Cox,  Rev.  Hanson  S.,  68,  192. 
Crane,  Rev.  E.  F.,  154,  155. 
Crandall,  Rev.  L.  A.,  46,  47. 
Crosby,  Dr.  Howard,  118,  119, 120. 
Cutting,  Sewall  S.,  D.  D.,  196, 197. 

Dassori,  Rev.  Agostino,  173. 

David,  106,  108. 

Davies,  Rev.  Philip  L.,  157. 


GENERAL   INDEX 


207 


Davis,  Rev.  Henry,  61. 

Day,  Rev.  Henry  S.,  111. 

Day,  John,  59. 

Day  Star  Church,  173. 

Deems,  Rev.  Chas.  F.,  139. 

Delauey,  Dr.,  108. 

Dixon,  Rev.  Thomas,  47. 

Dodge,  Rev.  Daniel,  3. 

Dodge,  Jeremiah,  9. 

Dodge,  Rev.  John,  9. 

Dodge,  Rev.  Orin,  192. 

Dovvling,  Rev.  John,  5, 18, 44, 63,157. 

Dubois,  Rev.  James,  154, 155. 

Dunbar,  Rev.  Duncan,  7,  35. 

Duncan,  Rev.  Robert,  183. 

Eagle  Avenue  Church,  174. 

Earle,  Rev.  A.  B.,  96. 

East  Church,  7,  61. 

East  Brooklyn  Church,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y.,  203. 
Eastman,  Rev.  Samuel,  41. 
Eddy,  Rev.  H.  J.,  61. 
Edwards,  Robert,  28. 
Edwards,  Rev.  William,  178. 
Ekman,  Rev.  E.  F.,  173. 
Elder.  Rev.  J.  F.,  33, 102. 
Emmanuel  Church,  129,  131, 163- 

165. 
English.  Rev.  J.  B.,  170. 
Epiphany  Church,  33,  34, 169,  178. 
Everts,  Rev.  Wm.  W.,  63,  64,  68,  79, 

163,  203. 
Ewing,  Rev.  Greville,  12. 
"  The  Examiner,"  197. 

Faunce,  W.  H.  P.,  d.  d.,  147-149. 
Fayette  Street  Church,  9. 
Fetzer,  Rev.  Gottlieb,  175. 
Fifth  Avenue  Church,  95-134, 143- 

149,  164,  165,  171. 
Fifth  Avenue  Pulpit  Committee, 

147,  148. 
Fifth  Church,  Philadelphia,  153. 
Fifty-third  Street  People's  Church, 

163. 


First  Church,  3,  7,  8,  24,  25,  150- 

154,  158. 
First  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  60. 
First  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  60, 

72. 
First  Church,  Chicago,  111.,  27. 
First  Church  of  Harlem,  161. 
First  Church,  Mount  Vernon,  N.Y., 

180. 
First  Church,  New  Brighton,  S.  I., 

177. 
First  Church  of  North  New  York, 

166. 
First  Church,  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  183. 
First  Church,  Stamford,  Conn.,  70. 
First  Church,  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  182. 
First  Church,  White  Plains,  N.  Y., 

180. 
First  German  Church,  174, 175. 
First  Harlem  German  Church,  176. 
First  Italian  Church,  173, 174. 
First  Mariner's  Church,  160,  161. 
First  Swedish  Church,  173. 
Fiske,  Gen.  Clinton  B.,  133. 
"Forty  Years,"  106-111. 
Francis,  Rev.  James  A.,  71, 169, 170. 
Fuller,  Rev.  Andrew,  117. 
Fuller,  Rev.  Richard,  190. 

Gage,  Rev.  Oscar  A.,  183. 
Garniss,  Dea.  Thomas,  9,  20. 
Garnsey,  Rev.  Erasmus  D.,  183. 
German  Churches,  174-176. 
Gessler,  Rev.  T.  K.,  167. 
Gibbs.  Rev.  John  W.,  40,  49. 
Gilbert,  Dea.  Joshua,  188. 
Gillette,  Rev.  A.  D.,  44. 
Goodchild.  Rev.  F.  M.,  156. 
Goodwin,  Mr.  Frank  J.,  128. 
Goodwin,  Charles  T.,  89, 92,  98, 101, 

189. 
Gorham,  Rev.  J.  J.,  180. 
"  The  Gospel  Witness,"  3. 
Grace  Church  (first  one),  48,  167. 
Grace  Church  (second  one),  166, 

167. 


208 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Granger,  Rev.  W.  A.,  180. 
"Great  Fire,"  18. 
Grenell,  Rev.  Zelotes,  61. 
Gunning,  Dr.  J.  H.,  115, 122. 
Gunther,  Rev.  G.  A.,  174, 175. 

Hague,  Rev.  William,  30,  93. 

Haldane,  Robert,  12, 13. 

Haldeman,  Rev.  I.  M.,  153,  154. 

Hall,  Rev.  John,  102,  139,  140,  141. 

Hall,  Rev.  Robert,  117. 

Hamilton  Theological  Seminary, 
191. 

Hansen,  George  H.,  89,  92,  98, 101, 
111,  147. 

Hartley,  Rev.  Richard,  163. 

Harris,  Thomas  R.,  156. 

Hastings,  Rev.  Thomas,  137, 140. 

Hatfield-Peverel,  2. 

Hatt,  Rev.  George,  69. 

Hempstead  Church,  Suffern,  N.  Y., 
182. 

Hendrickson,  Rev.  Judson  C,  177. 

Herr,  Rev.  J.  D.,  156. 

Higgins,  Sandy,  89. 

Hill,  Benjamin  M.,  197. 

Hillman,  Dea.  William,  150, 151. 

Hillman,  George  W.,  82. 

Hiscox,  Edward  T.,  D.  D.,  45. 46. 180. 

Hiscox,  Rev.  H.  O.,  46. 

History  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Bap- 
tist Church,  73. 

"History  of  the  Stanton  Street 
Church,"  39. 

Hobart,  Alvah  S.,  d.  d.,  180, 181. 

Hoby,  Dr.,  192. 

Hodder,  Rev.  A.  W.,  60,  61. 

Hodge,  Rev.  James  L.,  7,  37,  59,  60, 
162,  181. 

Hoe,  Rev.  Beniah,  63. 

Hcefflin,  Rev.  Reinhard,  175. 

Holloway,  Rev.  Edwin  S.,  38. 

Holman,  Thomas,  89. 

Holme,  Rev.  J.  S.,  70, 168. 

Hooper,  Rev.  John,  181, 182. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  C.  J.,  158. 


Hope  Church,  163,  202. 

•'  Hope  Chapel  Congregation,"  43, 

44. 
Hope  Chapel  Church,  Leaders  in 

Organization  of,  43,  44. 
Hoyt,  Wayland,  d.  d.,  71. 
Hudson,  Rev.,  166. 
Hudson  River  Association,  41,  79, 

159. 
Hudson  River  Association,  South, 

28,  181. 
Hughes,  Rev.  D.  C,  204. 
Hull,  Rev.  Robert  Bruce,  71,  204. 
Hunt,  Rev.  Granville,  174. 
Hutching,  Rev.  Hiram,  203,  204. 

Illsley,  Rev.  Silas,  72. 

Immanuel  Church,  Williams- 
bridge,  N.  Y.,  182. 

Immanuel  German  Church,  176. 

Interdenominational  Letter  Sign- 
ers, 112. 

Isaacs,  Wm.  M.,  161. 

Jackson,  Rev.  Aaron,  49. 
Johnson,  Rev.  W.  F.,  170. 
Jones,  Rev.  Howard  L.,  34. 
Jones,  Rev.  Peter  F.,  162. 
Jones,  Samuel,  9. 
Jones,  William,  182. 
Judd,  Rev.  Orin  B.,  159,  196. 
Judson,  Adoniram,  114, 157. 
Judson,  Dea.  Benj.  F.,  98, 102, 104, 

105,  147,  164,  190. 
Judson,  Rev.  Edward,  114, 115, 157, 

158. 
Jutten,  Rev.  David  B.,  60. 

Kendrick,  Rev.  J.  R.,  70. 
Kendrick,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  191. 
Kennard,  Rev.  J.  Spencer,  38, 127. 
King,  Rev.  J.  M.,  139. 
Kircaldy,  12. 

Knapp,  Rev.  E.  E.,  167,  168. 
Knapp,  Rev.  Halsey  W.,  37,  38, 181, 
182,  193-195. 


GENEKAL   INDEX 


209 


Knapp,  Rev.  Jacob,  64-68. 
Knapp,  Rev.  Samuel  J.,  37,  46, 159. 
Krygar,  Rev.  Geo.  W.,  183. 

Laight  Street  Church  (first  one), 
68,  163,  194. 

Laight  Street  Church  (second  one), 
163. 

Landor,  Walter  Savage,  115. 

Lathrop,  Rev.  Edward,  69,  70. 

Lawson,  Dea.  L.  M.,  Ill,  112, 113, 
123,  124,  146. 

Lawson,  Miss  Louise,  111,  114. 

Lay -preaching  Association,  78-85, 
166,  182. 

Lay-preaching  Association  Mem- 
bers, 82. 

Leavell,  Rev.  W.  H.,  46. 

Lexington  Avenue  Church,  166. 

"Life  of  Spencer  H.  Cone,"  19,  21 

List  of  City  Churches  in  1835,  7. 

Long  Island  Association,  202,  203. 

Ludlow,  John  R.,  198. 

Lux,  Rev.  Paul  J.,  184. 

Lyon,  Roger  H.,  24. 

MacArthur,  Robert  Stuart,  d.  d., 
44,  45,  116-118. 

Macdougal  Street  Church,  35. 

Maclay,  Rev.  Archibald,  7,  11-17, 
40,  41,  87. 

"Maclay  Memorial,"  11. 

MacMurray,  Rev.  D.  A.,  169. 

Madison  Avenue  Church,  30,  31, 
96, 178, 179. 

Madison  Avenue  Committee  on 
Union,  30. 

Magoon,  Rev.  E.  L.,  28,  29. 

Mariner's  Harbor  Church,  Mari- 
ner's Harbor,  177. 

Mariner's  Temple  Church,  60, 161, 

Marschard,  Rev.  Henry,  174. 

Mason,  Col.  Joel  W.,  129. 

McKean,  Rev.  John  A.,  157. 

Melrose  Mission  Society,  163. 

Memorial  Church  of  Christ,  15&- 
158. 


Messiah  Church,  Yonkers,  N.  Y., 

181. 
Middleton,  Rev.  John,  7. 
Mikels,  Rev.  Wm.  S.,  60. 
Miller,  Rev.  D.  Henry,  124, 125, 134, 

181. 
Miller,  Rev.  Wm.  G.,  7. 
Mitchell,  Dr.,  5,  6. 
Moore,  Rev.  Halsey,  166. 
Morningside  Church,  169. 
Morrison,  Rev.  Wm.,  176. 
Mott,  Richard,  156. 
Mount  Gilead  Chiirch,  170. 
Mount  Morris  Church,  161, 162. 
Mount  Olivet  Church,  34,  131,  170- 

173,  175,  181. 
Mulberry  Street  Church,  7, 10,  14, 

15,  17,  39. 
Murch,  Rev.,  165. 

Nanuet  Church.  Nanuet,  N.Y.,  184. 

Neale,  Rev.  Rollin  H.,  190. 

Nepperhan  Avenue  Church,  Yon- 
kers, N.  Y.,  181. 

Newton,  Dea.  Isaac,  28, 189. 

New  York  Association,  79, 152. 

"  New  York  Chronicle,"  159. 

"  New  York  Herald,"  67. 

"  New  York  Recorder,"  162. 

Niles,  Mr.  L.  H.,  128. 

Noe,  Deacon,  40,  41. 

Norfolk  Street  Church,  42,  71-75, 
78,  86-95,  110,  129,  162. 

Norfolk  Street  Church  Officials, 
198. 

Norfolk  Street  Church  Committee 
on  Location,  92. 

Norfolk  Street  Church  List  of  Dea- 
cons, 89. 

North  Beriah  Church,  7,  35,  156, 
160. 

North  Church,  7,  36,  49-52. 

North  Church,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y., 
182. 

North  Church,  Port  Richmond,  N, 
Y.,  176. 


210 


GENEEAL   INDEX 


Norton,  Rev.  C.  C,  29, 137,  154, 155, 

162. 
Nott,  Rev.  A.  Kingman,  151, 152. 

Oliver  Street  Churcb,  3,  4,  7,  8, 14, 
19-23,  27-33,  53,  62,  178,  185,  189. 

Oliver  Street  Church  Committee 
on  Union,  30. 

Oliver  Street  Church  Officials,  199. 

Olmstead,  John  W.,  196. 

Oncken,  John  G.,  160. 

Osborne,  Rev.  A.  C,  37. 

Osgood,  Howard,  d.  d.,  29,  49,  50. 

Park  Church,  Port  Richmond,  N. 

Y.,  176. 
Parkinson,  Rev.  Wm.,  7,   24,  25, 

158. 
Parmely,  Rev.  D.  S.,  159. 
Patton,  Rev.  A.  S.,  196. 
Patton,  Rev.  J.  Ferris,  163. 
Pearl  Street  Church,  Albany,  N. 

Y.,  78. 
Pearl  Street  Church,  Brooklyn,  N. 

Y.,  203. 
Peck,  Doctor,  54,  56. 
Peck,  James  M.,  38. 
Peck,  Rev.  John,  191, 192. 
Peddie,  Rev.  John,  153. 
Pegg,  Roger,  28. 
Pell,  Dea.  W.  T.,  128. 
Peltz,  Rev.  G.  A.,  38. 
Pendleton,  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  61, 159. 
People's  Church,  163. 
Perkins,  Rev.  Aaron,  156, 157. 
Pierrepont  Street  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, 203. 
Pilgrim  Church,  38, 167, 194. 
Pilgrim  Church,  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  183. 
Pilgrim  Church,  West  Farms,  N. 

Y.,  181, 182,  194. 
Piscataway  Church,  Stelton,  N.  J., 

203.  204. 
Plummer,  Mr.  J.  F.,  112,  122, 134. 
Plymouth  Church,  37, 38. 
Pogson,  Rev.  Matthew  H.,  60. 


Pontefract,  108, 109. 

Potter,  Bishop  Henry  C,  138. 

Potter,  Rev.  Daniel  C,  71, 121, 154, 

155. 
Purser,  Thomas,  28. 
Putnam,  Mrs.  A.  C,  60, 160. 
Putnam,  Rev.  James  W.,  168. 

Rabbit-warren  Church,  4. 
Rauschenbusch,  Rev.  Walter,  175. 
Raymond,  Rev.  Lewis,  90. 
Raymond,  Rev.  John  T.,  7,  26. 
Remington,  Rev.  Frank,  49. 
Remington,  Rev.  Stephen,  45. 
Reid,  Dea.  J.  D.,  89, 101,  104, 122. 
Rhodes,  Rev.  Christopher,  46. 
Rivers,  Rev.  J.  J.,  174. 
Riverside  Church,  71, 169, 170. 
Roberts,  Rev.  E.  W.,  181. 
Rochester  Theological  Seminary, 

175. 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  124, 125. 
Root,  Sidney,  171, 172. 
Roth,  Rev.  Charles,  176. 
Rutgers  Institute,  86. 

Sabine,  Rev.  Wm.  T.,  138. 

Salmon,  H.  H.,  38. 

Salem  Church,  New  Rochelle,  N. 

Y.,  182. 
Samson,  Rev.  Geo.  W.,  58. 
Sanders,  Rev.  Henry  M.,  106, 138, 

156,  179. 
Sarles,  Rev.  JohnW.,  203. 
Saunders,  Dea.,  177. 
Saunier,  Rev.  Edward  M.,  183. 
Scott.  Rev.  J.  W.,  26, 166. 
Schulte.Rev.  G.  M.,  174. 
Seaman's  Bethel,  160. 
Second  Avenue  Church,  170. 
Second  Church  (Chrystie  Street), 

7. 
Second  Church  (Bowery),  7. 
Second  Church,  Chicago,  111.,  153. 
Second  Church  of  Harlem,  166. 
Second  Church,  Providence,  R.  I., 

18. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


211 


Second  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
50. 

Second  German  Church,  175. 

Second  Mission  Church,  163. 

Seeley,  Rev.  John  T.,  154, 155. 

Seton,  Mr.  W.  S.,  35. 

Sharon  Church,  170. 

Sharp,  Rev.  Daniel,  190. 

Sheldon,  Dea.  Smith,  154. 

Shiloh  Church,  174. 

Simmons,  Rev.  James  B.,  104,  168. 

Sixteenth  Church,  7,  59-61. 

Sixth  Street  Church,  29, 154, 155. 

Sixty-seventh  Street  German 
Church,  176. 

Skelding,  Deacon,  37. 

Slater,  Rev.  W.  H..  174. 

Smith,  Rev.  C.  Billings,  154, 155. 

Smith,  Mr.  Isaac  Townsend,  160. 

Smith,  Jacob,  28. 

Smith,  Rev.  J.  Cotton,  102. 

Smith,  Rev.  Robert  Bruce.  170. 

Smith,  S.  F.,  D.  c,  104. 

Smith,  Dr.  T.  Franklin,  162. 

Somers,  Rev.  Chas.  G.,  7,  36,  37,  40, 
41,  72,  79. 

South  Church,  7,  36-38. 

South  Church,  Tottenville,  177. 

Southern  New  York  Association, 
26,  85,  151,  202. 

Spelman,  Rev.  Wm.,  7,  25,  26. 

Spurgeon,  C.  H.,  118. 

Stanton  Street  Church :  7,  39-48,  72 ; 
constituent  members,  40;  offi- 
cials, 198. 

State  Convention,  191. 

Staten  Island  Churches,  176-178. 

State  Street  Church,  Springfield, 
Mass.,  147. 

Stelle,  Rev.  B.  G.,  182. 

Steward,  Rev.  Ira  R.,  160. 

Stone,  Rev.  James  R.,  157. 

Stow,  Rev.  Baron,  190. 

St.  John,  Rev.  Frank,  168. 

St.  Philip's  Church,  Port  Rich- 
mond, N.  Y.,  177,  178 


Strong   Place  Chiu-ch,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y.,  203. 
Swan,  Elder  Jabez,  192. 
Swaney,  Andrew,  198. 

Tabernacle  Church  :  18,  62-71, 129, 
155,  186,  187,  188,  199-201,  204; 
officials,  199-201. 

Taggart,  Rev.  Jos.  W.,  60. 

Taylor,  Rev.  E.  E.  L.,  203. 

Taylor,  Dr.  J.  Monroe,  203. 

Taylor,  Rev.  Wm.  M.,  138. 

Thessalonian  Church,  174. 

Third  German  Church,  Morrisania, 
175. 

Thompson,  John  E.,  92. 

Thomssen,  Rev.  Geo.  N.,  176. 

Toy,  Rev.  Daniel  S.,  177. 

Tremont  Church,  165, 166. 

Trevor,  John  B.,  181. 

Trinity  Church,  168, 169,  204. 

Tucker,  Rev.  Elisha,  27,  28. 

Tucker,  Rev.  H.  H.,  190. 

Union  Church,  39,  159. 

Valentine,  David  T.,  199,  200. 
Vanderlip,  Mr.  G.  M.,  7,  8,  28,  30. 
Van  Dyke,  Francis,  8,  9. 
Vassar  College,  203. 

Wagner,  Rev.  R.  T.,  176. 
Walker,  Rev.  B.  W.,  170. 
Walker,  Rev.  W.  W.,  156. 
Wallis,  Rev.,  12. 
Walsh,  Rev.  A.  Stewart,  38. 
Warburton  Avenue  Church,  Yonk- 

ers,  N.  Y.,  180,  181. 
Warren,  Rev.  Harry  M.,  155, 162. 
Washington  Heights  Church,  48, 

167,  202. 
Washington  Market,  194. 
Washington    Street    Methodist 

Church,  Albany,  110. 
Way  land.  Dr.  Francis,  53. 
Wayland,  Dr.  H.  L.,  57. 


212 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Welch,  Rev.  Bartholomew  T.,  75, 

77,  110,  190. 
Welton,  Rev.  Sidney,  177. 
Wesley,  John,  109. 
West  Baptist  Church,  5,  18,  63. 
West  Church,  Kreischerville,  N. 

Y.,  177. 
Westcott,  Rev.  Isaac,  156. 
Westou,  Dr.  Henry  G.,  29,  30. 
Wharton,  Lord,  110. 
Wheat,  Rev.  A.  C,  49. 
Wheelock,  Rev.  Alonzo,  60. 
White,  Rev.  Harry  C,  118. 
Whitehead,  James  M.,  14. 
Wilkins,  Rev.  Stephen,  156. 
Willard,  Chas.  E.,  190. 


Williams,  Rev.  John,  14,  21,  40,  53. 
Williams,  Rev.  Leighton,  57,  58. 
Williams,  Mornay,  58. 
Williams,  Dr.  Wm.  R.,  7,  53-57. 
Wilson,  James,  28. 
Wintertou,  Dea.  Wm.,  199. 
Wisher,  Rev.  Daniel  W.,  131,  132, 

170-172. 
Wyckoff,  Wm.  H.,  196,  197. 
Wynn,  Rev.  R.  D.,  26. 

Yorkville  Church,  155, 162. 

Zoar  Baptist  Church,  9, 10. 
Zion  Church,  7,  26. 


INDEX  OF  CHURCHES 


List  of  churches  comprising  the  Southern  New  York 
Baptist  Association  in  1898,  following  the  order  of  their 
organization. 


First,  New  York,  3,  7,  8,  24,  25,  150- 

154,  158. 
Oliver  Street  (Epiphany),  3,  4,  7,  8, 

14, 19-23,  27-34,  53,  62, 178, 185, 189. 
Abyssinian,  7,  25,  26. 
North  Beriah,  156,  160. 
South,  7,  36,  38. 
Stanton    Street    (Washington 

Heights),  7,  39-48,  72,  167,  202. 
North,  7,  36,  49-52. 
Amity  Street,  7,  53-58,  192. 
Zion,  7,  26. 
Sixteenth,  7,  59-61. 
Broome   Street  (Cannon   Street), 

East,  7,  61. 
Bethesda,  New  York,  158, 159. 
First  Mariners',  60, 160, 161. 
Central  Park,  162. 
Ascension,  162,  163. 
Hope  Chapel  (Calvary),  10,  43,  44, 

45,  189. 
Hope,  163,  202. 
Emmanuel,  129,  131, 163-165. 
Tremont,  N.  Y.,  165, 166. 
Lexington  Avenue,  166. 
Alexander  Avenue,  166. 
Grace  (disbanded),  166,  167. 
Tabernacle,  18,  62-71,  129, 155, 186, 

187,  188,  199-201,  204. 
Redeemer,  167,  168. 
Trinity,  168,  169,  204. 
People's,  163. 


Morningside,  169. 

Riverside,  71, 169, 170. 

Beth  Eden,  170. 

Mount  Morris,  161, 162. 

Day  Star,  173. 

First  Swedish,  173. 

First  Italian,  173, 174. 

Mount  Olivet,  34,  131, 170-173,  175, 
181. 

Shiloh,  174. 

Eagle  Avenue,  174. 

Antioch,  174. 

Thessalonian,  174. 

First  German,  174, 175. 

Second  German,  175. 

Third  German,  175. 

First  German,  Harlem,  176. 

Immanuel  German,  176. 

Sixty-seventh  Street  German,  176. 

Park,  Port  Richmond,  Staten  Is- 
land, 176. 

South,  Tottenville,  Staten  Island, 
177. 

Mariners'  Harbor,  Staten  Island, 
177. 

West  Kreischerville,  Staten  Island, 
177. 

First,  New  Brighton,  Staten   Is- 
land, 177. 

St.  Philip's,  Staten  Island,  177,178. 

Madison  Avenue,  New  York,  30, 
31,  96,  178, 179. 

213 


214 


INDEX    OF    CHURCHES 


Memorial,  156-158. 
Sixth  Street,  29.  154,  155. 
Central,  156. 

Bethel,  White  Plains,  183. 
Bethesda,  New  Rochelle,  183. 
Sharon,  N.  Y.,  170. 
Second  Avenue,  170. 
First,  Mount  Vernon,  180. 
First,  White  Plains,  180. 
Warburton  Avenue,  Yonkers,  180, 
181.    . 


Mount  Gilead,  170. 

North,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y.,  182. 

First,  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  182. 

Calvary,  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  183. 

Chappaqua,  Chappaqua,  N.  Y.,  183. 

Pilgrim,  Nyack,  183. 

Nanuet,  184. 

Nepperhan  Avenue,  Yonkers,  181. 

Messiah,  Yonkers,  181. 

Pilgrim,  West  Farms,  181, 182, 194. 


Date  Due 

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